Harry Potter and the Child of Spring
by The Forgetful Bel
Summary: This is a crossover with my ROTG fanfic, Child of Spring. Won't make any sense if you haven't read it. Contains OCs! Lillian, the Child of Spring accidentally runs across one Harry Potter. Several years later she meets him again, and this is how this chance meeting changes everything. Centers on Lillian and will include several ROTG characters as they interact with the HP-verse.
1. Chapter One: Lillian Meets Harry

Author's Note: This chapter was originally in my Rise of the Guardians fanfic, Child of Spring as a sort of interlude chapter. Now it is the beginning chapter of this very weird crossover fic. It's sort of a Rise of the Guardians crossover, but centers more around my fanfic universe in Child of Spring. So the Guardians characters might be a little OOC and acting strangely if you haven't read my fic. I HIGHLY recommend you at least read up to Through the Years Part 2, as it is during that time that this fic takes place in.

Consider this VERY AU from Harry Potter and Rise of the Guardians. It is also AU from my fanfic, Child of Spring. I just had a little plot bunny in my head and I had to write it out. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter One: Lillian Meets Harry

The first time Lillian had seen Harry Potter, had been when he was eight years old. It was just past mid-spring, and the weather was fine. The sky was full of sunshine with only a hint of clouds, and Lillian was wandering along Privet Drive, doing her best to beautify the neighborhood with her lovely Spring flowers.

She walked carefully along the edge of the grass near the sidewalk and looked back to see the effect she was having. In a long neat row, grew her spring flowers in all shapes and sizes, the colors a riot of random colors.

She smiled a little as she looked at it. It suited the neighborhood. It was somewhat uniform, but still random enough to give it that particular flair. She was careful to walk along the edge near the sidewalk instead of near the houses, since she knew some people liked planting flowers and things and she knew they didn't want anything interfering with their precious flower beds.

She had started at the other end of Privet Drive, and was glad that she would be done soon. She didn't really like this part of Little Whinging, with all its sameness and perfection. Life wasn't perfect, she reasoned, so why pretend it was? Perhaps it was for some sort of control, but she wasn't sure. She hadn't noticed much of anyone as she went about her business. It was the middle of the day on a Sunday. She had seen the occasional person watering said flower garden, but that was about it. Most people were either off doing their own things or inside. Some children were playing in their backyards, but most were probably off at the park.

That was why Lillian paused at Number Four, Privet Drive. She spotted a mop of dark hair moving near the house. She looked more closely and noticed it was a small boy drowning in clothes far too large for him. They looked pretty raggedy, and she could see that he had to roll the sleeves up several times so he could stick his hands out from them to tend to the flower garden.

Lillian hopped off from the grass to the front walk carefully with practiced ease and walked up it to get a closer look at this boy. Lillian tilted her head, wondering if she should write to Santa and suggest some new clothes for this kid. She watched him weed for a little bit, finding it a little odd that a kid so young would be out in the sun weeding a flower bed all by himself.

She shrugged to herself. Who knows, maybe the kid likes gardening. Finding his task pretty boring, she walked back down the walk and hopped back to where she had left off with her flowers.

She continued walking down the rest of Privet Drive and soon her Giant Flower of Doom was eating her as she took off without a backward glance. If little Harry Potter had looked up from his task, he might have spotted Lillian disappearing via her Giant Flower of Doom, but he was hard at work and only had eyes for weeds.

* * *

It was three years later before she saw Harry Potter again. She had been bored and not supposed to spread Spring now, since it was the end of July and soon to be the beginning of September. But she had been bored, and Jack was off in cold places and Pitch was..

She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. Pitch was.. he was _fine._ So what if he was a little distant? So what if he yelled at her more.. So what if she felt forgotten and a little unloved sometimes.

She thought of her bedroom, which she had started to leave messier and messier when she was in high school, and how Pitch never yelled at her like he would have done. She remembered when he would scold her to clean her plate, and how he would read to her at night and how _right_ it had all seemed. She had a family.

Now she spent more time out of her home than in it, and she stayed out as late as she could before Sandy would catch her. She would always wake up at Jack's lake, and sneak back inside. Pitch had caught her a couple times, but mostly he didn't have much to say about her long absences. Sometimes Lillian almost wished Pitch would scold her, because that meant that he still _cared._

Lillian had been walking along the sidewalk, her gaze down on the cracks as she walked around in her old mended pink dress. She realized the sidewalk had become blurry and she stopped to wipe her tears.

"Why are you crying?" a quiet voice asked her.

Lillian gave a startled yelp and almost jumped backwards at that. Her head snapped up and gray eyes locked onto emerald green. She saw a boy that was physically several years older than her, wearing baggy clothes that were much too big on him and was he dragging along a trunk and carrying an _owl_ in a _cage?_

Lillian tried not to stare as she wiped more of her tears away and wondered how this boy could see her. No person outside of Halloween had ever seen her. She didn't want to admit it, but she was kind of freaking out.

"..Um.. um.. n-no reason," she said shyly. "Who are you?"

Harry gave her an odd look then, but didn't comment on it.

"Harry Potter," he finally admitted. "I live a few houses down the street. Where do you live?"

"Um.." Lillian said, stalling for him. "..A few blocks away.."

It was a pretty feeble lie, but the kid seemed to buy it. Lillian really wanted use her Giant Flower of Doom to get away, but she didn't want to scare this boy. What was going on?!

"Say, um.. Do you believe in.. spirits? Like.. The Spirit of Spring?" she asked Harry cautiously.

"Spirit?" Harry gave her an incredulous look, as no child on _Privet Drive_ of all places would dare to suggest such a thing.

"Nevermind," Lillian said hastily.

Now this was _really_ freaking her out. He didn't know about the Spirit of Spring and he could still see her?

She looked at Harry curiously and finally had to ask.

"Why do you have an owl in a cage?" she asked him.

"Er," Harry said, fumbling for an answer. He finally settled on a little bit of the truth. "I got her as a birthday present. I had to get supplies for this boarding school I'm going to and a friend bought her for me."

That brought Lillian's attention to Harry's attire. They sort of looked like clothes that someone who didn't want them anymore had thrown away. But the trunk he was dragging along laboriously looked pretty nice and the owl was one of the prettiest ones she'd ever seen.

"Aren't your parents going to help you take that stuff home?" she finally asked.

Harry looked distinctly uncomfortable and was heartily wishing he'd ignored the sad crying girl and been on his way. He forgot that children were always endlessly curious and apparently she'd latched onto him for her endless fountain of questions.

He mentally kicked himself for wandering around in public with an _owl_ but all Hagrid had done was see to it that he got on the train back to the Dursley's, assuming that Harry's Aunt and Uncle would pick him up from the station. What Hagrid had failed to realize was that while Harry's Aunt and Uncle were most likely on their way home or already there, they would have no clue Harry would be at the station needing a ride and he hadn't any pocket money for the pay phone.

Harry wasn't entirely certain that they would have picked him up anyway if he did. Harry decided a little distraction with the truth would be in order. He could tell her that much and then be on his way.

"They're dead," he said suddenly and Lillian's eyes widened at that. "My Aunt and Uncle didn't know what time to expect me back, and I didn't have any pocket money for a phone to call them."

Lillian tilted her head as she looked at him, taking in the facts. Something seemed a little off about this picture, but then she shrugged. Maybe this was a normal thing for him?

She made to move aside as he trudged past her.

"Hey," she called out to him. "Do you want some help?"

Harry gave her a look of utter disbelief, as she looked barely able to lift the owl's cage, let alone one end of the trunk. Finally, he shook his head.

"I'm almost home," he told her.

Lillian watched him for a minute as he continued trudging on, then mentally shrugged to herself. She had enough weirdness in her life. She soon reached the end of Privet Drive and her Giant Flower of Doom ate her.

Maybe she'd go see where Jack was and what he was up to.

* * *

The next year, Lillian turned up at Privet Drive around the same time, just to see if she'd run into that Harry kid again and if he was lugging around an owl. Unfortunately, she had misjudged the time difference and it was pretty late at night. Still, she thought it couldn't hurt to take a peek and see if anything was going on.

So she walked down Privet Drive, and was thankful that either Sandy had already been through here or else hadn't been here yet, as she didn't see any sign of him. Just as she was nearing Number 4, she paused as she heard what sounded like a car. She looked up and down the street but didn't spot one. Finding this a little strange she looked around until a flash of something caught her eye.

Then she looked up and her jaw dropped. There was a _car_ flying in _midair!_

She wondered how on earth that could be possible, when some of the conversation drifted down to her. It was night after all, and voices carried.

"..Locked me up and.. can't.. expelled..!" a young boy's voice exclaimed. He sounded familiar to Lillian.

"Stop gibbering," a second voice said, apparently from the car. "..you out.."

"But..! ..either..!" the first boy's voice said, trying to be quiet, and sounding very nervous.

"You forgot.. with me.." the second boy's voice said with a chuckle.

There was a little more conversation and then Lillian watched with interest as a rope was tied around the bars that were in front of the window.

Wait..

Bars in front of the window?!

Lillian's eyes went wide again as she took it in. No way. Who put bars on a kid's window?! That was _not_ ok.

She frowned as she watched them shove a very familiar looking trunk out the window and into the car. Then she heard a loud screech and the boy in the room cried out in dismay.

"I've forgotten Hedwig!"

This was followed by a very loud bellow.

"..Ruddy owl..!"

There was soon a loud hammering noise and a lot of shouting. The boy in the room had handed a snowy owl's cage out to the boys in the car and was attempting to climb out himself when something seemed to be stopping him.

"Get off!" the boy, Harry, Lillian had realized, cried out.

"Petunia!" the man bellowed at the top of his lungs, "HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

Lillian watched as the boys in the car had a tug-of-war with the man over Harry. Finally the boys gave one gigantic tug and the man that had tried pulling poor Harry's leg off, lost his grip and Harry was tugged into the car, safe and sound.

As the car started to speed off, Lillian had a split second to make up her mind. Taking a deep breath, she had her Giant Flower of Doom gobble her up. It magically sprouted from the rear bumper of the car and spit her out.

With a loud thump, she landed right on the roof of the car, just in time to hear Harry call out.

"See you next summer!" he said cheekily to his Uncle, who was staring dumbfounded out the window as Petunia and Dudley stared out at the flying car as well.

"What was that noise?" Ron asked after they all heard the loud thump.

"Did we hit a bird?" Harry asked nervously as he got settled. "And let Hedwig out, she's been stuck in there for ages," he added on.

Ron quickly picked the lock on the cage and soon Hedwig was soaring alongside the car, looking like a ghost in the dark.

Lillian was laying on her back on the car, having had the wind knocked out of her and was extremely grateful that she hadn't been thrown clear over it, as she had no way to land and would most definitely have gone splat.

She turned her head and saw the amber eyes of the owl watching her. Lillian tried to give the owl a reassuring sort of smile, but it came out more as a grimace as she tried to catch her breath.

After a few long moments, she managed to do so and gingerly sat up. She could hear Harry inside the car, explaining something about a house elf (whatever that was) to the other boys inside.

Soon they could be heard speculating as to who the elf had belonged to. Lillian sat quietly and listened in on their conversation as she wondered where they were going. She also wondered how a flying car could exist, but Pitch could have easily explained that to her. Or even Jack. Howgwarts and wizards weren't nearly as hidden as they liked to believe.

* * *

The sky was becoming light when the car finally started to descend and Lillian suddenly realized she'd have to move or risk being discovered by Harry. She was pretty sure that the other boys wouldn't see her, but she couldn't be certain. She thought about that, and then shrugged to herself. So what if she was seen?

She was the Spring Spirit, and it didn't really matter if kids could see her, right? It's not like the adults could see her.

She would soon come to realize how very wrong she was.

So she decided to keep her seat as the car touched down and the boys all clambered out, congratulating themselves on getting away with this. One of the twins was telling Harry about their brilliant plan, and Lillian had to stifle a giggle at that.

However, that plan was soon stamped on as Mrs. Weasley emerged from the house and began shouting herself hoarse at the boys. She paused to tell Harry kindly that she didn't blame him when a flash of movement caught her eye.

She hastily drew her wand out of her apron pocket and turned toward the family car, only to stare dumbfounded at a little girl that appeared to be sitting on it.

"Who are you?" she asked the child in amazement.

Lillian, who had been trying very hard not to laugh at the boys' predicament, soon found herself in a predicament of her own. She'd never had an _adult_ that could see her.

"Erm.." Lillian said hesitantly, and then looked at them all a little nervously as all the boys turned to stare at her.

"Hey!" Harry said suddenly. "I've seen you before! You were on Privet Drive last year when I was coming home from Diagon Alley."

Mrs. Weasley eyed the girl suspiciously.

"Were you really?" she asked, as though expecting the girl to jump up and start cursing everyone.

Deciding the cat was out of the bag, Lillian nodded and climbed down from the car.

"I'm Lillian, the Spirit of Spring." she said softly.

Harry looked at Ron, who was exchanging confused looks with Fred and George. The spirit of what?

"Really," Mrs. Weasley said evenly. "Tell me then, how did you come be on top of our car?"

"Uh.." Lillian said hesitantly. "I saw it flying and it went to Harry's house. I decided to tag along and I used my powers to get up onto the roof."

Mrs. Weasley looked around at her children and Harry and gestured to them.

"Go on inside and have some breakfast," she told them.

Lillian looked a little nervous.

"Well.. uh.. I guess I'll just be going then," she said to Mrs. Weasley.

Even if she was very curious about the flying car and how it could possibly be flying, and why a family who lived in a _really_ weird house would own one, she knew it wouldn't be worth it if it would cause a lot of problems.

Besides, she could always pretend to go away and then pop back later to check things out. Maybe she could convince Jack to come along. He might be interested in seeing this family and the flying car too.

Mrs. Weasley continued to eye the girl.

"Are you a muggle?" she asked the girl suddenly.

"Uh.." Lillian said, looking completely lost.

"I thought so," Mrs. Weasley said with a sigh. "Well, you might as well come in for now. I'll have Arthur deal with you, he should be home any moment. Come have some breakfast at any rate."

Lillian didn't think that would be such a great idea, especially when this woman had declared that some guy named Arthur would 'deal' with her. She didn't want to be 'dealt' with, and she was sure that it wouldn't be pleasant.

She wondered what would happen if she disappeared on the spot. She didn't want to freak anyone out, but this lady was kind of scaring her a little.

Upon seeing Lillian's hesitation, Mrs. Weasley gestured at her to get moving.

Wishing she had just left the flying car alone, Lillian reluctantly went inside. As she looked around, her jaw dropped.

She was led into what was the kitchen, but not before glimpsing a bookcase with titles such as "One Minute Feasts - It's Magic!"

She also saw the weirdest clock she had ever seen, that had only one hand and things on it like, "You're late!" or "Time to Feed the Chickens."

She furrowed her brow at it. Was it a joke clock? She had seen one once that had all the numbers at the bottom in a big jumble as if they had fallen. Maybe it was something like that.

She saw the table that everyone was sitting at and took a seat next to Harry. Pretty much everyone at the table kept shooting her curious looks and Lillian found herself placing her hands in her lap and fiddling around with her fingers nervously.

Harry seemed to notice how nervous she was and nudged her a little in a friendly sort of way.

"It's alright," he told her quietly.

Lillian flashed him a somewhat grateful smile as Ron frowned at her.

"Why did you say you were some Spring Spirit? Did you think you were being funny?"

Fred and George glanced at one another. That was _their_ department.

"I am the Spirit of Spring," Lillian mumbled, looking embarrassed. "Only people who believe in me can usually see me though.. I don't know why you all can. And only kids usually believe in such things. I never had an adult see me.. Unless it was on Halloween."

"Halloween?" Harry asked, ever curious.

"It's a time when people believe in all sorts of things," Lillian explained down to her hands, feeling embarrassed to have so many people staring at her. "So mostly everyone can see me."

"If you are a Spring.. whatever," Ron said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Why don't you prove it?"

Lillian looked up at that with a frown at Ron. She didn't really like his tone. He sounded like he didn't believe her, and the way he said it.. It was sort of like a dare. A double dog dare!

And you _never_ started off on a double dog dare. Didn't he know anything?

They were interrupted when Mrs. Weasley started loading up their plates with food. Lillian's stomach interrupted her by rumbling, and she realized that she was _starving._

As they all began eating, the backdoor opened and in walked a man who looked pretty tired. He had red hair like all the rest of the family, although he was balding.

"Nine raids," he said wearily as he sat down in his chair at the table. "And Mundungus Fletcher tried to curse me. You wouldn't believe the things our kind have taken to enchanting lately - "

"Like cars, for instance?" Molly interrupted him, her eyes flashing.

"Er.." Arthur said.

"Imagine a man buying a car saying he was interested in how worked, when really he was taking it apart and enchanting it to fly!" Molly shouted.

"I think that you'll find he was well within his rights," Arthur explained, "As long as he wasn't intending to fly - "

"Our sons flew the car you weren't intending to fly to Surrey and back! They brought Harry Potter and a little muggle girl tagged along!"

Lillian suddenly found a very startled look being thrown her way.

"Did they really?" Aurthur asked in an almost eager tone. "How did it go?"

At a sharp look from his wife however, he hastily coughed and tried to sound stern.

"That was very wrong boys, very wrong indeed."

Lillian giggled at this and covered her mouth. It sounded a little like how Pitch used to scold Jack when he wasn't really upset with him, but had to scold him anyway, since Jack wasn't supposed to use his powers in Pitch's lair.

At the sound of Lillian's giggle, Arthur's attention was drawn back to her.

"So.. a muggle?" he asked Molly.

Molly nodded gravely.

"Just think of the Statute of Secrecy!" Molly exclaimed. "What are we going to do, Arthur? She's been missing all night, her parents must be frantic."

Lillian's smile was wiped off her face at the mention of that, and she grew solemn.

"Oh, I don't think anyone's noticed I'm gone yet," she said. She didn't mention anything about a Statute of Secrecy, since she had no idea what it was. "And I can get myself home whenever I want to."

Molly shot Lillian a frustrated look and hissed at Arthur.

"She keeps insisting that she's some Spring Spirit. Obviously it's nonsense. I'm sure it's something she picked up from listening to all the boys talk on the way home."

Arthur shook his head at that and looked at Lillian.

"Where are you from, hm?" he said in what he thought was a cheerful tone of voice, but Lillian could hear the worry in the tone.

"The United States of America," Lillian said as though it were obvious. She didn't have a British accent, after all.

Harry frowned at that.

"You told me you lived a couple blocks away from me," he reminded her.

Lillian shot him a sheepish grin at that.

"Whoops?" she offered.

Harry shook his head at her.

"Near a town called Burgess," she finished telling Arthur. "But like I said, I can get my own way home."

"Of course you can," he said cheerfully to her. "Since you are a Spirit, after all. Is that right?"

"Yeah!" Lillian smiled at him, not noticing that he was discreetly drawing out a stick. "I'm the Spirit of Spring. I'm not supposed to be spreading Spring right now though, so I have to be careful about how I use my powers. I don't want to make Jasper or August mad. It's getting to be Fall soon, and August is pretty territorial about the end of Summer as it is."

Harry and Ron both shared a mystified look, but Arthur nodded along, humoring her.

"What's your name?" he asked her kindly.

"Lillian," Lillian promptly answered.

"What about your last name?" he asked, gently trying to get her to tell him more information.

Lillian frowned a little as she thought, but she came up with a blank. She didn't have a last name. But Pitch was like her dad, sort of.. And his last name was Black. Right?

Was Pitch Black his _actual_ name though? She had never thought to ask. To her, he was just Pitch.

"Um.. I dunno," she said hesitantly after a minute. "I don't really have one."

"Right," Arthur said as he rolled up his sleeve. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Ron nudged Harry as he noticed that his Dad had his wand out and looked about ready to be firing a spell. Both he and Harry discreetly moved out of the way, giving Arthur a clear shot.

Harry felt a little bad for the girl, but wondered how she had gotten all the way to England, if she lived in the U.S. Did their family come here on a vacation?

"Not really," Lillian said, then frowned as she noticed what Arthur was holding. "Hey!" she said suddenly. "Why are you holding that stick thi - "

" _Obliviate!_ " Arthur shouted as a beam of light shot from his wand to Lillian.

Her eyes instantly lost their focus and she looked very dazed.

"I'll have to take her to the Ministry," Arthur said with a sigh. "I might as well drive her to the visitor's entrance. I'm not sure how she'd handle apparating or the floo. It would be dangerous to have to place another memory charm on her in such a short period of time, especially with her being so young."

"Will she be alright?" Harry asked him anxiously. He didn't know why, but he felt bad for her. She was just a kid after all. A kid with a big imagination.

"She'll be just fine," Arthur assured him. "She won't remember the car ride or anything about being here."

"What about that Spirit nonsense?" Molly asked. "She seemed convinced she had some sort of power."

"Yes.. well.." Arthur said. "Chances are she got that idea from something the boys might have said. With her memories of the car ride gone, it shouldn't be a problem.. But just in case, I erased her memories of that too."

Lillian shook her head, still looking very dazed. Her eyes were still unfocused and she seemed to be having a very hard time following the conversation.

She was in fact, having a very hard time thinking at all. Her mind seemed to be in a pleasant fog, and she didn't seem eager to come back to reality.

She smiled vaguely at all of them and didn't seem to mind when Arthur rose and took her hand, pulling her up from her seat.

"Come on then," he said to her. "Why don't you and I go for a nice car ride? We'll figure out where your parents are, and get you back to them."

"What if you can't find them?" Harry asked.

Arthur grimaced at that thought, as he wasn't entirely sure what the Ministry would do. They usually didn't have to deal with wayward muggle children.

"We'll worry about that when we get to it," he said to Harry. "But I'm sure we'll find them."

With that he lead the dazed Lillian out of the house, and soon they were on their way to the Ministry.

Back at his lair, Pitch was starting to get a bad feeling. It was the sort of parental feeling he would get when Lillian was up to something, or in trouble.

But he was busy experimenting with some stolen dreamsand, and he didn't have time for such things.

With an impatient sigh, he brushed the feeling away and went back to playing with the dreamsand.

He just _knew_ he could find a way to twist the good dreams to his advantage.

As he played around with the dreamsand more, he soon forgot all about his bad feeling.

* * *

Author's Note: So the idea here is that Lillian drops into Harry Potter's world and drags at least Jack Frost into things, and maybe the rest of the Guardians? And a Pitch that's acting strange? (Since this takes place before the Rise of the Guardians chapters and he isn't fixed yet by the Man in the Moon.) And that will change the story around. They will definitely at least need Tooth, since Lillian just had a very large chunk of memories erased.. Silly wizards. They always seem to obliviate first and figure things out second.

I'm also toying around with the idea of Harry's home. I mean.. _obviously_ things are going on if he has _bars_ on his windows, and nobody seems to think this is strange? Fred and George mention that Harry was being starved, but then they never seem to bring it up ever again and Ron and Hermione never question anything about the Dursleys. I'm kinda sorta toying around with Pitch rescuing him eventually, but I'm thinking that might be a bit of a stretch. I'll probably be working on the next chapter of this while I write the next Child of Spring chapter, since even I'm curious about what's going to happen to Lillian at the Ministry.

Anyway, sorry about my long author's notes and I hope you all like this chapter.. I'm sure you weren't expecting me to start off where I did, but I didn't want to just plunk Lillian or Jack or anyone straight into Hogwarts. I also didn't want to start off with Manny asking them to help Harry, since that's been done a bazillion times. I figured having them accidentally stumble into Harry's world would be more interesting.


	2. Chapter Two: Not Quite a Muggle

Author's Note: Here is Chapter 2! I have to tell you, that this chapter completely took on a life of its own and didn't listen to me at all. The last part of it is extremely AU, since it refers to Lillian's family tree when she was alive. It differs VERY MUCH from the actual Child of Spring. Just saying. Lila Parker and John Parker are mentioned in Child of Spring, but that's all the similarities there are. I know it's sort of.. cliche at the end, but I couldn't help it. My fingers ran away with themselves. I decided to end the chapter where it was so it's a little short. I do plan on getting things back on track to where I wanted them to wind up, and it will be interesting to see how long Lillian's missing before Jack (or Pitch!) decided to search everywhere for her. Anyway, I hope you like this fic. It's.. it's going to be really weird, I can already tell.

I also made up a couple characters, but I decided any (alive) OCs should already be related to existing Harry Potter characters.

Chapter Two: Not Quite a Muggle

When Lillian finally started snapping out of her daze, she discovered she was now in a small room lined with file cabinets. She blinked and looked around confusedly. She was sitting in a chair by a desk and she saw that the walls were lined with extensive family trees.

She saw on the desk there was a nameplate, but she didn't recognize the name. She furrowed her brow as she read it. It declared that the desk belonged to _Stephen Jorkins of Family Affairs_.

Family Affairs? That didn't ring any bells either. Reading the man's name though, reminded her that she had a name. Her eyes widened a little as that name didn't come to her immediately. Then in a flash she remembered it was Lillian.

She relaxed a little only to tense up again. Lillian _what?_ She realized in a panic that she could barely remember anything! Why was everything so fuzzy?!

As she continued to panic, her bracelet began to glow as it reacted to her emotions. And before Lillian knew it, chaos was reining in the small office.

* * *

Stephen Jorkins was conversing with his older sister, who still hadn't curbed her habit of gossiping and sharing secrets that shouldn't be shared. She was very excited since The Department of Magical Sports and Games was thinking of resurrecting something that Albus Dumbledore was all for and it would be _very_ exciting for everyone if they got all parties to agree -

Much to Stephen's relief, Arthur Weasley came rushing over to explain that a young muggle girl had been obliviated and her parents were nowhere to be found. Stephen looked at Arthur, a little confused.

"But I deal with _magical_ families," he explained. "How in the world am I supposed to find a muggle family?"

"I don't know!" Arthur said, looking distressed. "We weren't sure what to do with her. She had claimed to be from the United States. She had made her way to our house and witnessed.. er.. magical.. things.." Arthur said, his ears reddening much like Ron's did when Ron was under pressure, "and.. well, when I discovered this and that she didn't know a thing about magic, I obliviated her. She also kept going on and on about a spring spirit, so I obliviated that knowledge from her as well, just to be on the safe side. It should only have been a few memories, but she's acting more confused than normal, as if I had taken a large amount of memories."

Stephen frowned at this. He knew Arthur was perfectly capable of performing a simple memory charm, so why was this particular child having such an adverse reaction to it?

"I could try the family tree potion. It's something that I use instead of heading to Gringotts for the ancestry test. Fairly cheaper too, although it doesn't go back as far as goblin magic can. They're capable of tracing a family all the way back to its roots, you know. As for her reaction to your memory charm, I supposed we'll have to wait and see. Perhaps it's effected her more strongly than normal and will take her longer to recover. I'll go see to her."

Stephen noted that Bertha was listening very closely to the conversation and he gave his sister a look to say that she shouldn't be talking about this to anyone. Bidding both her and Arthur a good day, he rushed off to his office to see this poor muggle child.

When he reached his office, he opened the door and then abruptly stopped and stared in shock. It looked like there were flowers _everywhere_ and on top of that, it was _raining_ inside his office! He looked up at the ceiling and stared even more in disbelief when he saw an actual rain cloud up there.

What. The.

Before he could even finish that thought, a sound caught his attention and he turned his gaze towards his desk. A very distraught child was standing by his desk, soaking wet and crying her eyes out.

His look of disbelief softened and he pulled his wand out. He cast a simple _finite incantatem_ and then stared some more when the rain failed to stop and the flowers remained where they were. Nonplussed and a little worried, he swept his wand to the flowers and said spoke very clearly.

" _Evanesco!_ "

To his relief, the vanishing spell promptly caused all the flowers to disappear. He then tried the spell again on the rain cloud, but the thing stubbornly refused to disappear.

Lillian heard the man's voice and looked around tearfully when she noticed that he had made the flowers disappear. She saw him try the same trick on the cloud, but it refused to disappear. She pointed at it with her right hand, the same hand that had the bracelet on it.

"I wish you'd go away!" she said forcefully to the cloud, and to her complete surprise (and Stephen Jorkins') it promptly stopped raining and the cloud dissipated and completely disappeared.

Stephen's jaw was practically on the ground since Arthur had just sincerely assured him that this child was very much a muggle. Now it seemed that was definitely _not_ the case.

He winced as he thought of the implications of this. She looked quite young, too young for her to receive her letter yet, so all of that must have been some very powerful accidental magic.

He took a deep breath and waved his wand again, casting a quick drying spell on the child and the room at large. All the water promptly disappeared although there were several documents on his desk that were now ruined.

Great.

He walked inside and over to the child, who was wiping her tears away.

"I'm sorry..!" she cried as soon as she saw him. "I don't know what happened! It came out of nowhere! I didn't mean it!"

Stephen gave her a friendly smile.

"Hey there, it's alright," he said to her in a soft, reassuring voice. "That was an accident and you couldn't help it. My name is Stephen Jorkins and I'm in charge of helping you. I heard you had a very trying day today. Can you think really hard and tell me about anything that you remember?"

Lillian bit her lip as she thought. Everything was so fuzzy.

"My name is Lillian," she said after a long pause. "Um.. everything else is kinda.. fuzzy."

Stephen inwardly winced.

 _Everything?_

He remembered that Arthur had erased all knowledge of magic from her. If she came from a magical family, then magic must have been a large part of her life. It would make sense then that a good portion of those memories would now be hidden from her, locked away deep in her mind. It would take someone extremely skilled at Legilimency to help unlock those memories.

Hoo boy.

He hoped to _hell_ that she wasn't from a prominent pureblood family, or they were in deep trouble.

"Everything, eh? Well.. I'll see what we can do about finding someone to help you out with that," Stephen said, trying very hard not to panic about this as he took a seat at his desk and gestured for Lillian to sit down in a chair.

"Right now, we have to figure out who your family is," he said as she took a seat. "I have a special drink that will do just that. You have to put three drops of your blood into it and then wait while it changes colors. Then I dip a quill into it and let some drops drip onto a parchment and it should tell us just who your family is, from your great-grandparents on down.

"Wow!" Lillian said, looking awed. "Can a drink really do all that? It's like magic!"

Stephen nearly facepalmed at that. Just what did she think that whole rain cloud business was?! Not to mention he had cast several spells, including instantly drying her.

He carefully schooled his features though as he reminded himself that this was a child and she didn't have the first clue about magic now.

Nodding to himself, he rummaged through his desk drawers until he came upon the one that was magically expanded on the inside to hold several potions for himself. He didn't have a need for them very often, but with stasis charms cast on them, they would be fresh for several months. It was certainly a lot easier than brewing up whatever he needed on the spot, as several of the potions were very complicated to make.

He pulled out a flask of a dark blue potion and set it on his desk top. He then pulled out a silver dagger he kept for just such occasions.

"Alright Lillian. I need you to be a brave girl, alright?" Stephen said to her, in his soft reassuring voice.

Lillian nodded. She remembered how the man said that he needed three drops of her blood for the special drink. She eyed the dagger, but it was more with curiosity than fear. She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that not a lot of things really scared her. Well, at least daggers didn't scare her much. She just knew she could trust this Family Affairs guy, though she didn't know why she felt that way.

She held her hand out to him, the one without the bracelet and he carefully nicked her index finger and squeezed out three small drops of blood into the potion. It instantly turned a lighter, more frosty blue as the first drop of blood hit it and then settled into a very springy blue by the time the third drop and settled in.

Stephen frowned a little, as usually the potion only changed colors once and that was when the third drop hit. Was this child particularly magical? That accidental magic was a very impressive display.

He waited a full minute to be certain that the blood had a chance to mix with the potion properly before he got out a specially charmed quill that was used just for this. He dipped it into the potion as if he was dipping it into an inkwell and then pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment. He carefully balanced the point of the quill onto the parchment and let go.

It stood straight up all by itself for a moment, before it began writing.

Lillian stared at it in amazement as it was writing. _This is the coolest thing EVER!_ she thought as she watched it.

Stephen couldn't help chuckling to himself as the child was entranced with the quill. Soon it stopped writing, and Stephen picked up the parchment.

"Let's see.." he said as he began to silently read the parchment.

It read:

 _Alice Clarion_ _(deceased)_ \- _Jack Page (deceased)_

There was a double line that came down from the line that was inbetween Alice and Jack's names to indicate the children that the two had between them. As Stephen scanned the parchment, it was apparent that they had three children, two boys and a girl. One boy had died young, while the second had married but had no children. The girl had apparently grown and married. The girl's name was Martha Page, but her last name had changed when she married a Vincent Brighton. Both were listed as deceased, and Stephen noted with relief that they had one child, a girl.

The woman's name was listed as Lila Brighton and she had married one John Parker, but her entry was most interesting as she had a man's name noted to the _left_ of her name, and it was there that the double line connected down to Lillian. The man's name however was most certainly _not_ John Parker and there were no further indications that they had ever been married. Stephen raised an eyebrow at that. Apparently Lillian's mother, Lila, had had Lillian out of wedlock and then went on to marry this John Parker.

Stephen noted that with some sadness that Lila was deceased. John was not listed as deceased, but Stephen wasn't interested in him at the moment. At most he'd be Lillian's step-father, and not an actual blood relation. He turned his gaze to the name that now interested him.. The name of Lillian's father.

 _Robert Prince. (deceased)_

Stephen furrowed his brow as he read the name.. Prince. That sounded vaguely familiar to him, as did the name Clarion at the top of Lillian's family tree. He set the family tree aside and stood up. On top of one of the filing cabinets was a very large, heavy book that looked quite old. He quickly cast a charm on it to make it feather light and then easily set it down on his desk. He opened the book to the extensive index and then used his finger to go down the list of names.

Aha!

Clarion _was_ listed. He knew it! The book he was looking at contained most of England's pureblood family trees, though most were condensed and didn't go back that far. It was just enough to be a good reference for him if he needed help researching families. It was rare for a magical child's parents to die with no will set in place, or godparents listed, but it did happen sometimes. When it did, it was Stephen's job to research the family and figure out where they should be placed.

He didn't bother turning to the Clarion family tree just yet. First, he would look up the father's relatives. The Princes. He quickly found their listing in the book and discovered that Robert Prince had a sister, Eileen Prince. Eileen had married one Tobias Snape and they had..

Stephen's eyes widened in shock as he looked at that.

 _Severus Snape.  
_

That would technically make him..

Lillian's uncle?!

* * *

Author's Note: Betcha didn't see that coming! Hopefully. I realized I forgot to add an ending Author's Note and I fixed a few typos. The Clarions are a name I borrowed from Disney and are a rather powerful wizarding family that was thought to have died out. I realized that since this fic is totally AU, it'd be fun to have some of Lillian's family _actually_ be magical. Then I remembered that with purebloods, mostly everyone are related in some way, and then I thought of who Lillian could be related to.. I seriously considered Sirius Black (through Regulus of all people!), but decided it would be more fun if it could be someone that would be at Hogwarts. Then I thought of my favorite snarky Potions professor and I HAD to. Although I have to admit that I became more of a Snape fan long after I'd finished the Harry Potter series. He was so evil to Harry that I really didn't like him at all when I was reading the Harry Potter books. But his personality reminds me a little of Pitch's. I'm thinking of having those two meet at some point, just because.

A tiny hint at upcoming plot is that Snape won't be the only reason Lillian winds up at Hogwarts. No, it isn't Harry. Or Ron. Or Arthur Weasley.

As always, I welcome any plot suggestions or comments. Thanks for reading!

Oh and also! All this drama is going on during Harry's stay at the Weasley's. I think he stayed with them for.. around a month? I think.. before his shopping trip. So I might skip back to them early, I don't know. I'm not sure what all will be skipped or not. I might not feel the need to fully explain certain HP events as I'm assuming you've read the book and remember the plot.


	3. Chapter Three: Temporary Guardian

Authors Note: I hope you don't mind that I updated this fic first, but I had more written out for it. Also, please don't kill me for what I did in this chapter. I just thought it would be a little more interesting in Lillian's road of recovery and guardianship. You know how I am about villains and such, so.. yeah. Also, you'll be able to tell that I had to correct myself on Snape's relation to Lillian. If you guys spot these errors too, don't be afraid to tell me! Next time I'll have to physically write out the tree so I don't have this problem again. :P Anyway, thanks guys for all your reviews and favorites and things. It really motivates me to continue on with my fics. I promise Child of Spring will be updated soon. I can't say when specifically, (since that never works for me) but I can say it should hopefully be within the next two weeks.

So without further ado..

 **Chapter Three: Temporary Guardian**

Stephen Jorkins stared at the results that the enchanted quill had written out. _Severus Snape_ was Lillian's uncle? He shook his head a little and studied the family tree more closely.

Robert Prince was Lillian's father, and Eileen Prince was Robert's sister, making her Lillian's aunt. Which _actually_ made Severus Snape Lillian's cousin.

He still couldn't believe it! But as he looked at the paper, he realized that Professor Snape was Lillian's closest surviving relative. So with that in mind, he got out a fresh piece of parchment and hastily began writing Severus a letter.

"Good news! I found out you have a cousin. You should be able to live with him."

Lillian stared at the parchment with her family tree on it in wonder.

"Wow," she said in a voice hushed with awe.

"I'm writing him now to tell him about you, and then when we can arrange it, I'll take you to him." Stephen said as he finished writing. He frowned a little at the letter though, as he looked at Lillian. She was so young, and Professor Snape was no spring chicken. Well.. Maybe Lila was younger?

He told Lillian to stay put as he folded the letter and placed it in an envelope, sealing it with a ministry seal. He wandered off to go send the letter off with an owl.

* * *

Severus Snape was not in a good mood. It was already mid August and he was very behind on his potion making for the coming year (he helped out Madam Pomfrey by keeping the Hospital Wing stocked) and it was all because -

He winced as there was a loud tapping at his magical window, and frowned as that caused him to add one drop too many to his calming draught, rendering the last hour he spent on this potion completely useless.

With a frustrated sigh, he waved his wand over the cauldron, silently clearing the potion away. With another wave of his wand, he magically cleaned the cauldron to within an inch of its life. Satisfied with his handwork, he walked over to the window and let the owl in.

The owl flew aggressively at him with a loud screech and threw an envelope in his face before flying right back outside again. Muttering darkly under his breath, Snape picked up the envelope and saw that it was yet _another_ letter from that idiot Stephen Jorkins from Family Affairs at the ministry. Since Snape knew for a fact that all his family was dead, he paid the letter little mind and tossed it in a pile with all the others he had received in the last few weeks from Jorkins.

It wouldn't have been such a bother, but somehow the ministry owls always managed to interrupt his brewing and ruin whatever potion he was working on. Not only that, but the owls were getting increasingly aggressive.

Why anyone had thought placing a magical window in the potions lab in his quarters was a good idea, he had no clue. He muttered to himself as he started making the calming draught again. At this rate he was going to have to sample his own wares.

 _Blasted owls._

* * *

 _ **Ministry seeks Temporary Guardian for Lost Child**_

 _Stephen Jorkins of Family Affairs has informed the Daily Prophet that he is currently looking for a kind family to take in a young child while he attempts to contact her last surviving family member. All those seeking to apply should contact..._

Stephen sighed as he looked over at poor Lillian, who was sitting at a little table in his office, as she practiced writing with a quill. She had been staying with him in his home ever since she had turned up in his office a few weeks ago. He was so certain Snape would contact him immediately, but now he didn't know what to think. He had tried turning up at Snape's home at Spinner's End to no avail. Either Snape was on holiday or at Hogwarts. It was the uncertainty of Snape's current whereabouts that stopped Stephen from just turning up at Hogwarts.

He turned a quill over in his fingers as he thought about what to do. He supposed he could always write to Albus Dumbledore, but he didn't really want to get the Headmaster involved in Snape's personal affairs.

As another sigh escaped him, both he and Lillian jumped as his office door suddenly banged open.

A young man with perfectly styled short, wavy, blond hair and an impeccably bright smile strode into the office as if he owned the place. He was wearing robes that were a bright periwinkle, and his eyes sparkled with happiness.

"Fear not!" the young man declared dramatically. He walked up to Stephen's desk and flashed him a blinding smile. "Gilderoy Lockhart is here to solve all your problems!"

Stephen just gaped at him.

* * *

A short time later, Stephen stared down at the papers Gilderoy Lockhart had filled out to become Lillian's temporary guardian. He had his own home in the country and a flat just outside of the hustle and bustle of London, and even though he was very busy promoting his latest book, Magical Me, which was an autobiography.. he was still the best person for the job.

A groan escaped Stephen as he buried his face into his hands. No.. Lockhart was the _only_ person for the job. Nobody else had applied yet. The small article in the Prophet had been buried towards the back and he doubted he would have gotten many applicants.

Stephen looked back down at the application. Gilderoy had indicated that he was going to be teaching at Hogwarts, which was Stephen's main reason for allowing this travesty. He only hoped that he could get a hold of Snape before Lockhart filled Lillian's head with too much garbage.

* * *

Shortly after leaving the ministry with Lillian, Gilderoy and Lillian were hounded by reporters for the Daily Prophet. Gildeory didn't seem surprised at all to see them there, and certainly didn't think of demanding how they knew he would be there, applying for temporary guardianship of a poor child. No, he certainly wouldn't ask that since he knew perfectly well who had tipped them off and he certainly didn't want _that_ printed in an article. A cameraman shot several photos of Gilderoy flashing his dazzling smile, while Lillian shyly clung to Lockhart and hid her face in his robes.

Lillian was so intent on hiding from the bright flash of the camera, that she wasn't listening to all the nonsense Lockhart was spouting about her.

"Yes, as soon as I heard about this _tragic_ girl's story, I knew at once that what she needed was love and guidance, from the best person possible," Lockhart said while managing to show off all those sparkly teeth.

"How did this girl wind up at the Ministry? What happened to her family?" a reporter asked, as he hastily scribbled on some parchment with a self-inking quill.

Lockhart's smile dimmed somewhat as he thought of the story that whats-his-name.. Jenkins..? had told him. Lillian had been thought a muggle child and was obliviated by a well-meaning wizard, which resulted in severe memory loss that only a very skilled Legilimens could cure. Lockhart had also learned that Lillian's biological mother and father were dead, and her only remaining relative, a cousin, was ignoring the ministry owls being sent almost daily.

While very tragic, it also wasn't terribly interesting.. So Gilderoy Lockhart did what he did best.. He invented.

"Sadly, little Lillian here is an orphan. Her parents died tragically of Vastantes, a terrible wasting disease that seems to run in her family. However, in order to prevent this horrible atrocity from repeating itself, I have dedicated myself to coming up with a particularly powerful potion that will cure this terrible, terrible disease." Lockhart solemnly shook his head at the mention of Lillian's parents' deaths, but ruined it with a roguish wink. "Will this lead to another book? Only time will tell! Anyway, I really must be off. Even though I am only a _temporary_ guardian, I must see to it that she is properly clothed, as despite their tragic deaths, Lillian's parents were really quite neglectful, leaving her with few belongings. I will of course, be accepting any donations to her on her behalf.."

And so after what turned out to be a rather lengthy interview, Gilderoy Lockhart apparated away with little Lillian.

He would soon realize the error of this when the first thing Lillian did upon arriving at Diagon Alley, was vomit spectacularly all over his boot.

After quickly looking around and determining that no one saw this, he whipped out his wand and banished the mess, leaving his boot as shiny as ever. Lillian had burst into tears afterwards and Lockhart found himself awkwardly rubbing her back while she clung onto him, soaking his sleeve with her tears.

After panicking somewhat (he really was rather clueless about children), and saying some rather unhelpful and nonsensical things, Lillian _finally_ calmed down, especially after Lockhart had explained that they were here to buy Lillian some new things.

After spending a small fortune at Madam Malkin's, Gilderoy soon found himself at Pilliwinkle's Playthings on Horizont Alley.[1] He glanced down at Lillian and saw she was entranced by the shop display of toy trolls dressed up as ballerinas. A small, real smile graced his lips as he watched her eyes sparkle in happiness. Sure, he had originally decided to take in the child to further his own fame, but he was soon realizing that this.. This was something special.

And despite the numerous offers of his adoring fans, he wasn't getting any younger and it would be nice to have an heir to carry on his legacy. Lillian's cousin obviously didn't care a whit about her. Perhaps he could see about making this temporary arrangement more permanent.

After letting Lillian gawk at the display for a few more moments, he gently lead her inside. Even though the shop wasn't very big, every square inch of it was devoted to wizarding toys. It was a child's paradise. He told Lillian to pick out whatever caught her fancy, but then paused as he saw how overwhelmed she was by everything. So he took a hold of her hand again and lead her around the store.

For once, Gilderoy Lockhart wasn't trying to make himself seem important and perfect for reporters or his fans. For the first time in a very long time, he was enjoying an afternoon of just being himself and helping Lillian pick out a number of toys he remembered playing with when he was young.

It was as they were leaving the store, with Lillian clutching a small stuffed bear wearing a wintery blue cloak with matching hat (the outfit could change colors with a verbal command), that Gilderoy's real smile turned into a sly one as inspiration struck.

He could write children's stories! Yes, it would be glorious. He could make up stories about his youth and get the children primed to buy his other books when they were older. For a moment he saw nothing but mounds of galleons, and was contemplating on what to do with his future fortune, when he heard a loud rumbling noise. He looked down at his charge, who was blushing.

"My goodness, was that you?" he exclaimed in surprise. "You must be starving!"

Lillian looked embarrassed, but Lockhart didn't comment on it. Instead, he steered her into The Fountain of Fair Fortune, which happened to be nearby. Lillian looked at the storefront happily, as it was a faded pinkish color which she just knew in her heart of hearts, that that was her favorite color. She looked up and saw the name of the pub above the door in faded golden letters.

The inside looked much like any other pub, with a large bar and several small tables around. Lockhart chose a table near a window, so Lillian could see the people walking by, and for once didn't look around the room to see if there was anyone he wanted to impress with his deeds. Lillian didn't realize it of course, but Lockhart was being almost normal.

Lockhart took it upon himself to order for the both of them, soup and sandwiches with a gillywater for himself and a butterbeer for Lillian.

"Is that like rootbeer?" Lillian asked in confusion. She had pumpkin juice at Stephen Jorkins' place, but he had never mentioned butterbeer to her.

"I suppose.. In a way," Lockhart said after some consideration. "It's a sweet drink for a sweet girl," he added on with a smile at Lillian.

Lillian giggled at that and happily dug into her soup, dipping her sandwich into it. She realized right after she did it, that it might be considered rude and she looked hesitantly over at Gilderoy.

Lockhart didn't seem to be phased however, and gave her a wink as he did the same. Soon lunch was over, and Lockhart lead her back outside after paying the bill. He looked down at her, thinking of what else he had to buy.

He had decided that they would be staying at his cottage in the country, of course. It was out of the way and the fireplace was connected to the floo network, which would make traveling to and from there very easy. The cottage was small and purchased in his not-so-rich days. He had always wanted a large manor to show off his many awards and achievements, but he hadn't saved up for it.

And sadly, it would be a rather large and _empty_ manor, as there was no Mrs. Lockhart yet. Not even a hint of one, he thought ruefully to himself. He was far too busy in his travels. But now with him settling down a bit for some teaching at Hogwarts, maybe he could make his dream a reality.

He clapped his hands together.

"Now, to business!" he said eagerly to Lillian. "We might have gotten you the toys to fill your room, but we still need books and all the furniture as well. My spare room at home is set up as an office, but that can easily be changed."

Lillian's eyes widened at that.

"You're gonna buy me a bed and _everything?_ " she asked in disbelief.

Lockhart smiled down at her.

"Of course! I can't have you sleeping like a house elf, now can I?"

Lillian looked confused at that, but Lockhart didn't seem to notice as he thought about where to acquire such things.

Hmm.. But then he recalled Farley's Fine Furnishings[2] down Vertic Alley[3], which was not very far from Horizont Alley, and so he soon steered Lillian off in that direction. Vertic Alley had all sorts of interesting shops, just as Diagon Alley and Horizont Alley had, but Lockhart only had eyes for the furniture store, so Lillian didn't have much time to look at the shop windows. They had just passed a rather colorful storefront, when they paused in front of Farley's Fine Furnishings.

Lillian looked up at the rather austere store front, with its name in a fancy gold script, which should have made it difficult for her to read, but Lillian managed it just fine all the same.[4]

She wondered what sort of furniture a store with such a fancy storefront would have, when Lockhart lead her inside. She looked around to see all kinds of furniture in all different kinds of wood. She wondered what made it magical, since she felt like it looked pretty much like regular furniture. She realized how mistaken she was when they reached the section that held children's bedroom furniture. There were all sorts of displays set out, showing off the different types of beds one could get. The _themes_ where what made everything so magical.

Lillian stared at a bedroom that had a bunk bed set up to look like a castle. The wood of the bed actually looked like stone and near the headboard at the top, it looked like there were turrets. The painted walls by the bed were painted to look like a countryside, and the flowers looked so realistic that Lillian would swear she could smell their scent as they blew about gently in an invisible breeze.

Lillian's gaze was torn from the swaying flowers however, when she noticed the fire breathing dragon. This dragon was a chinese fireball and painted very realistically. The dragon gave a great roar and soon was breathing fire, setting a small part of the meadow ablaze.

Lockhart looked down to see Lillian gaping at the moving flowers and dragon on the wall and chuckled.

"Would you like something similar for your room?" he asked kindly.

Lillian tore her gaze away from the wall and looked up at him with her eyes alight.

"Could I?" she asked hopefully.

"Certainly!" Lockhart said as he ruffled her curls. "I'll need to hire a painter, but you can have whatever you like on your walls and whatever you want for a bed."

Lillian grinned happily at that, and turned to the task of picking out her new room.

A little while later, after having been reassured that the room would be done to Lillian's satisfaction, they stopped for an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's.

"I think for now we'll have the basics of your room set up," Gilderoy said, "and then tomorrow we can talk about what to paint on your walls. Remember, it will be _magical_ paint, so anything goes! You can even have pictures of scenery and it'll move as if you really are outside. Or you could have a fire breathing dragon.. Anything goes."

Lillian's eyes grew wide in astonishment as she stared at Gilderoy in wonderment.

 _Anything?_

This was all a bit much to take in, in one day. Sure Mr. Jorkins had explained about magic to her, but she didn't realize it was so.. _encompassing._ As she thought this however, she wondered how such a big word suddenly popped into her head. She didn't know any big words like that, right?

Gildeory, lost in the thought of Lillian's happiness at her complete room, missed the brief look of confusion on her face. They soon finished their ice cream in silence, one contemplating the immense gratitude that would soon be thrown his way, the other wondering somewhat bitterly just _why_ she had to practically forget her entire short life.

With a sigh, she turned worried eyes up to Lockhart.

"Mr. Lockhart," she started, but was soon interrupted.

"Ah, that is so formal my dear!" he said with a toothy grin that he was so famous for. It faded however, when he saw the look on her. In a much gentler tone, he asked her softly "What's wrong?"

Sudden insecurity plagued him, and he couldn't help but wonder if he was messing this all up. He hated doing things he knew absolutely nothing about, and he definitely knew nothing at all about children. But he just couldn't let that poor child suffer without a guardian of some sort..

 _And the publicity wouldn't hurt either,_ a little niggling voice in the back of his mind told him. He quietly told that voice to shut up and listened to Lillian.

Normally that was the voice he listened to most, but now he couldn't afford to.

"..Will I ever get my memories back?" Lillian asked as she swirled the dregs of her ice cream sundae around. She sniffled and her face crumpled. "..I.. I can't remember.. _anything.._ "

Gilderoy gulped as he saw the tears spill down her cheeks, but he quickly brought out his handkerchief (a periwinkle to match his robes, with a _G.L_. embroidered on it fancily in loopy letters in gold thread) and gently wiped her tears away.

"Of course you will!" he said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. "In fact, I had a talk with Mr. Jenkins about this very thing earlier in the day."

Lillian's eyes widened at this.

"Y-you did?"

Lockhart nodded, relieved he didn't even have to make this up.

"Don't your remember? We had a discussion about this as I was filling out papers."

"OH!" Lillian said, blushing a little as she wasn't really paying attention to all their prattling.

Lockhart smiled at that.

"You really didn't think he'd let me take you without explaining about your memory loss, didn't you?"

Lillian blushed more at this, and Lockhart chuckled a little.

"I had to talk to him about how I was to care for you and such, and he explained all about your memory loss to me. He also told me that there's a very good Legilimens at the very school I'm going to be teaching at."

Lillian tilted her head at that.

"You're going away?"

Lockhart did chuckle at that.

"And taking you with me, my dear. It's a magical school and all the professors there know a good deal about magic. Some have varying expertise in different things. Whereas mine is in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Snape's is Potions.. _Buuut_ ," he wagged a finger at Lillian, "he is also a very good Legilimens. That means that he can look right into your mind and find where all those memories have run away to. Because you see, a memory charm doesn't erase the memories it just locks them away from you, so you can't remember them. Professor Snape will be able to see where those memories have run off to and he should be able to unlock them for you, without hurting you one bit."

Lillian stared at Lockhart with very wide eyes at this.

"Wow.." she said in awe, not sure what else she could say about all this. Then she started bouncing around in her seat excitedly as all the sugar started to kick in. "When are we going to school?!" she asked, very hyper.

Gilderoy beamed at her.

"In just a few short weeks!" he exclaimed. "School officially starts on September first, but I'll write to the Headmaster and see if we can arrive early to settle in. I think a week should do it, don't you? Then after you are settled and your room at the castle arranged, I can ask Professor Snape about those memories. Since it seems to be _all_ your memories, or at least a very good deal of them, I doubt he'll be able to unlock them all at once, but he should be able to do a few at a time."

Lillian nodded at that, her curls bouncing.

"I can't wait!"

Gilderoy laughed at her enthusiasm but much later, after they had finally arrived home and had the basics of her room arranged, he was much less amused when she was _still_ bouncing around, stuck in hyper mode.

How in the name of Merlin did you get children to _stop?_

* * *

Sorry, sorry! I forgot my ending notes completely. So now.. here they are!

[1] Horizont Alley came from the internet which claims that it's a part of the Harry Potter thing in Florida, so I'll take its word for it, since I've never been there, unfortunately. It did list some interesting shops and things, so.. yeah. Shameless stealing to make Diagon Alley more.. bigger? Seriously, it's gotta have more than Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley.

[2]Farley's Fine Furnishings, I made up. The family however, is one the internet claims that is one of the ones that just disappeared in the seventh book. I guess it's mentioned at some point on the Wizarding Wireless.

[3]Vertic Alley, came from what I _thought_ was another informative site, but was actually set up for roleplaying. Anywho, I thought it would work for another alley, so there you go.

[4]Lillian might have forgotten almost her entire life (really, just her life as the Child of Spring was erased, but her earlier memories weren't unlocked yet (since HP takes place before Rise of the Guardians) so thus.. total amnesia. Anyway, she'll still retain all her subconscious things, so every once in awhile something might pop up that will be confusing to her, since she has no idea that she's _much_ older than six.

Author's Note: ARRRRG. This is what happens when I rush a chapter out. I get all excited and forget that I had actual footnotes for a change. Anyway, what do you think? I hope you aren't hating on me too bad.. But I thought it might interesting to see Lockhart as someone who _isn't_ super shallow. I consider his.. _fakeness_ a front that he puts up for the reporters or anyone he wants to impress. I refuse to believe that he only mastered ONE THING from his ENTIRE SCHOOL YEARS at Hogwarts. I'm sorry, but the guy HAS to know more than a memory charm. Seriously.

I'm also sorry for not stopping when they get to Hogwarts, but I felt that was a good stopping place for now. So next chapter will have Lillian and Lockhart showing up at Howgarts and all about her stay before Harry and Co. arrive dramatically. I think it'll be interesting (and difficult for me!) to show everything from Lillian's point of view. Although I'll probably switch between her, Lockhart and Snape since you know I like switching things like that. :) You probably won't see too much of Harry by himself, since we already know that story.

So anyway! Let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions. Jack will probably show up much later, say.. winter time?

 **Edit:** Also, vastantes is something I made up. It's just supposed to mean wasting in latin? I believe? And there wasn't much info on the Wiki about Lockhart, so I made up where he lived. I figured he probably wouldn't have a huge manor to live in yet, since he's always on the go. And like he thinks, it would be a very empty manor. Now hopefully this is my last edit!


	4. Chapter Four: Hogwarts Bound

Author's Note: I know, I know. I promised a Child of Spring update, but I just couldn't resist! I hope you guys like this chapter even though there's not a lot going on in terms of excitement. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by your reactions to Lockhart. I personally HATE canon Lockhart, so I'm glad you guys don't mind my tweaking him a bit to give him some more depth. I do plan on trying to have him be in character, just.. maybe.. tone down his annoyingness a bit.

Anywho, reviews!

M.v.j.M.: Thanks! :)

Lady Syndra: I'm glad you're enjoying Lockhart. I figured since Stephen is a guy, he would NOT be one of Lockhart's adoring fans, since I feel most of his fans would be middle-aged women. And yes, poor Stephen. But don't worry, we haven't seen the last of him.

Chipmunk: I think you're being too hard on the Weasley's/wizards there. They do know a lot about magical creatures, but it's obvious Mr. and Mrs. Weasley haven't heard of the Seasonals. Since most people can't normally see them, and the Seasonals don't tend to make appearances in the wizarding community, wizards haven't heard of them. Maybe some wizards have heard of the Guardians, but we'll just have to wait and see about that. Anyway, as to the obliviating, Mr. Weasley thought Lillian was a muggle child and just spouting off nonsense that she made up. As Lillian didn't seem to know about wizards and wasn't showing any magical power at the time, he just went with it. Anyway, it was an integral part of the story so I hope you don't blame Arthur too much.

PoorJasonTodd: Since this is a sort of crossover with my other story Child of Spring, Lillian is around six and half physically. That's the age Lillian was turned into the Spirit of Spring. I think it might be mentioned briefly in the story? Anyway, there you go.

KijoKuroi: I can't wait to get to the "wtf" moments with Snape. As for his wondering about her memories, I SO can't wait for that part, since I have something special planned for that. And thanks for liking Lockhart. I was really hesitant to have him play such a prominent part in the fic, but he just kind of wormed his way in there.

As always, thanks for all the follows and faves. Now on with the fic!

 **Chapter Four: Hogwarts Bound**

The following week passed by like a blur for Lillian. She looked around her room, which had since been completed, very happily. She had a four poster bed fit for a princess. Lockhart's office hadn't been very large, so he had to hire a magical contractor to put the necessary enlargement charms on the room, so that it could accommodate the rather large bed that Lillian had wanted.

It was big and comfy, with a dark pink comforter and lighter pink sheets and pillow cases. There were also a lot of fluffy decorative pillows. The floor remained hardwood, but it had a large rug that covered most of it, so Lillian's feet wouldn't get cold. Instead of a closet, she had a large wardrobe that housed all her various dresses she now owned with a collection of matching shoes (as Lockhart believed in properly accessorizing).

On the walls, she had an unusual theme going. One side of the room had a lovely spring scene of a meadow with the flowers waving in a non-existent wind. There were especially a lot of pink tulips, since Lillian had immediately fallen in love with the flower when she had first seen it. The other half of her walls were the exact opposite however, and featured a beautiful winter scene.

Lillian wasn't sure why, but winter seemed to call out to her in a way. She was amused to see many snow flakes continuously falling in this scene, which featured a frozen lake surrounded by trees. For some reason, Lillian had almost told the magical painter to make the corner of her room dark and spooky, but she had changed her mind at the last second and didn't add it. She was glad, since the thought of anything lurking in the dark kind of gave her the shivers.

She hadn't told Gilderoy of course, but she was a little afraid of the dark. Especially since she had learned that magic was real. Gilderoy had spoken of dragons as though they existed. Did this mean that other monsters could exist? The one thing Lillian didn't like about her bed, was underneath it. She had told herself that she must have had a scary space under her bed before, but she couldn't remember.

She was lucky that Gilderoy read her to sleep every night, or else that scary spot might keep her awake as she wondered what horrors lay underneath her bed, ready to get her.

Instead of anything dark and scary in her room, the corner held her toy chest, which was now quite filled. She also had several shelves on the wall housing other toys and she had a couple paintings that featured spring weather. One was similar to what she had on her wall while the other featured a spring rain. As they both were magical paintings, the pictures moved - the one with the rain, had actual rain falling in it and sometimes lightning would flash.

Lillian now had a trunk open in her room that was half packed. Gilderoy had helped her out by folding several dresses and putting several pairs of shoes in it, and now she was finishing the packing by choosing what toys and books she wanted to take with. Tales of Beedle the Bard was a must, she decided, since Gilderoy was reading her some of the stories in it every night to her. She chose a few more wizarding books for children and then followed it up by the toy potions kit.

With the proper supervision, she could make a potion that filled a room with bubbles and another that changed colors. Lillian's mind was already filled with the possibilities that the two potions could do if she combined them.. Her goal was one day to make color changing bubbles, which would be _amazing_. She wondered if Gilderoy would have the time to help her figure it out. She heard Hogwarts had a really awesome library, and had vowed to go look up potions books the first chance she got.

Since she wasn't allowed a wand to play with, she figured her potions kit would be the next best thing and she vowed that she would use it to its full extent. She shook her head as she tucked the kit away into her trunk. She was really quite pleased when Gilderoy got her a very special magical trunk. It had _two_ compartments, which might not seem very special, but it was how to get to the second compartment that was amazing. Instead of a keyhole, the front of the trunk had two buttons (one pink and one blue, she got to choose the colors). The first button was pink while the second was blue. When she pressed the blue button and opened the trunk, it would show the second compartment which had all her toys and books in it. When she closed the lid and pressed the pink button and then opened it again, it would magically show the first compartment.

Lockhart had also gotten her a smaller version of her trunk with a decorative wooden box. It would be a way for Lillian to bring a lot of things to keep herself occupied along when Lockhart was teaching, with as little fuss as possible. Feather light charms would make the box very easy for her to carry.

Lillian treasured the box, which had a picture of a fluttering fairy on the front, that really did flutter around. The box which was empty at the moment had already been packed away into her trunk. She looked around and spotted her bear sitting on the bed and grabbed him. He would ride with her and not get locked away in her stuffy trunk.

Lillian looked around her room one last time, a little sad that she was going to be leaving it so soon. But she was also excited, since she was going to go live in a magical castle and she would get a brand new room! Plus Gilderoy had promised her that as soon as they were settled, he would ask Professor Snape about helping her get her memories back.

Eyes shining with happiness, Lillian skipped out of her room and over to Gilderoy's room, where he was finishing up his own packing.

"I'm ready!" Lillian announced in a sing-song voice as she entered with her bear.

Lockhart didn't look so ready as he had several boxes with paintings strewn around and his trunk was overflowing with various robes. He glanced at Lillian to see that they were at least matching. He was wearing a lilac robe and she a lilac dress, with matching hair ribbon and shoes. That had been a battle in itself, since Lillian had wanted to wear her pink dress and Lockhart had wanted to wear his own favorite color and he insisted that they wear matching clothes for effect. He had only managed to get Lillian to wear lilac by promising that she could wear pink tomorrow.

"Oh dear, I don't seem to be, do I?" Lockhart murmured to himself as he looked at his various possessions. He looked at his trunk in consternation as he realized he didn't have any room for his books. Heavens, he should have gotten himself a trunk with multiple compartments!

But they were rather pricey, and if he hadn't already spent so much on Lillian..

Shaking his head, he decided he'd have to pack his books away into some more boxes. So with a wave of his wand, he had two boxes appear on his bed from where they had been stored away and he began to pack away the various books he had on Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Lillian watched him for a moment, hugging her bear as she did so and then tilted her head as she wondered how he was going to get all that to the castle.

"How are we goin' to Hog.. thingy..?" Lillian asked curiously.

Lockhart hid a smile at that. How adorable she was!

"It's called 'Hogwarts,' my dear," he told her with amusement, "and we're going to be using the floo. I know you don't particularly like it ever since my floo call with - "

But he was cut off by a loud exclamation.

"We're using the _fireplace?!_ " Lillian shouted in alarm, her eyes getting wide.

Lockhart sighed at this. Early last week he had floo called Albus Dumbledore to see if it would be alright if he came to Hogwarts a week early to get his charge settled in. He also had to request that an extra bedroom be added to his quarters for Lillian. Unfortunately, while he had his head in the fireplace, Lillian had entered the room and promptly freaked out.

A very embarrassed Lockhart had to end his call early, since Lillian had been crying her eyes out and trying to tug him out of the fireplace, to save him from burning up. He had to explain to a rather hysterical Lillian several times that it was perfectly safe if you used floo powder, but Lillian couldn't seem to get over her fear of the fireplace.

"Now Lillian, we've been over this. There is nothing wrong with talking or traveling by fire," Lockhart said in his most soothing voice.

Lillian hugged her bear closer and took a few steps back.

"I don't wanna go in the fire," she said, her voice a little higher than normal.

"Would you rather apparate?" Lockhart asked with an eyebrow raised.

Lillian blanched at that and shook her head vigorously. They had apparated back home from Diagon Alley and her stomach didn't seem to agree with it.

"It would be the easiest to travel by the floo.." Lockhart said thoughtfully as Lillian's face fell, "but I suppose we could always take the bus."

Lillian's eyes lit up at this, as this sounded like the most normal way to travel to her.

"I wanna take the bus!" she declared as Lockhart gave her a look. Lillian realized she was being rather demanding and rude, so she tacked on a hesitant "Please? Pretty please?"

Lockhart looked around at his various possessions again and gave a big, dramatic sigh.

"I suppose I could shrink the lot of it and put it in my pockets," he said with a wink at Lillian. "But only for my favorite girl."

Lillian got a huge grin on her face at that and she ran over and gave Gilderoy a big hug.

"You're the bestest EVER!" she said happily to him.

Lockhart's expression softened at that and he gave her a hug back. 

* * *

A few hours later, they were both ready to leave. Lockhart had asked Lillian to go check her room one last time for anything she might want and he made the fastest floo call in history as he hastily informed McGonagall that he and Lillian would be arriving by the Knight Bus instead of flooing. He also inquired briefly about acquiring either a nanny house elf or else someone to look after Lillian for a day, since he had a book signing he had to be at, at Flourish and Blotts before school started.

McGonagall had resisted rolling her eyes at the book signing part and assured Lockhart that someone would be available to watch Lillian for him when he needed it. Lockhart thanked McGonagall and then without further ado ended the call, since the last thing he needed was Lillian freaking out again about him having his head in the fire.

He had just straightened up when Lillian bounded into the room, declaring that she had everything that she wanted.

Lockhart nodded at this and then headed off to her room to shrink the trunk. Once it was properly tiny, he handed it to her and told her to tuck it in her pocket. He'd normally hold onto it himself, but his pockets were already bulging with all his own things that he'd shrunk down and if he tried stuffing her trunk in one of them, the pocket would surely burst.

He'd seriously considered trying an extension charm on his pockets, but they weren't really his forte and he didn't relish having the charm come undone while he was on the Knight Bus - it would be very embarrassing. So he settled on having bulging pockets and trying not to overfill them too much.

He looked around at his rather bare cottage now. He supposed he had everything. He went outside to go summon the Knight Bus, only to turn right around and head in to grab Lillian.

Good grief, he couldn't believe he almost forgot the most important thing!

Once he had Lillian in tow and made sure she had her trunk tucked in her pocket, he carefully held out his wand with his right hand, while he held Lillian's hand in his left.

Lillian gaped as a purple triple decker bus appeared right out of thin air and came to a halt in front of them.

The door opened and a young man appeared.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus," he started off in a very bored tone, but soon stopped when he saw just who was wanting to ride the bus. "Blimey!" he exclaimed. "Yer Gilderoy Lockhart, you is!"

Lockhart gave a strained smile to the young man. Yes, he loved being recognized, but in this instance he just wanted to get Lillian safely to Hogwarts and he most certainly did _not_ want her to get any ideas of butchering English the way this young man was.

"Yes, I am," Lockhart said simply. "My young charge and I would like to go to Hogwarts..?"

"Oh, right! I'm Stan Shunpike by the way. Come right on board!"

He grandly waved Lockhart and Lillian aboard. Lockhart lead Lillian to some seats at the back of the bus, so they could avoid having to talk to Stan.

Lockhart got Lillian settled into a chair next to him and was just telling her to hold on tight, when -

BANG.

Lillian flew off her seat as the bus took off with a loud bang. If she could see out the window, she would be able to see that they were already miles away from where they started. Instead, Lillian was picking herself up off the floor when -

BANG.

By the end of the ride, Lockhart had a very teary Lillian in his lap. He was holding onto her with one hand, and the other hand had a death grip on the candle bracket so he wouldn't fall over himself.

After the fourth time Lillian had been thrown to the ground by the psychotic bus, Lockhart had hastily scooped her up into his arms. He grumbled to himself, in an uncharacteristically bad mood as he threatened to write the to ministry about how hazardous the horrid bus was. Honestly!

Finally their stop came up, and Lockhart carried Lillian off the bus and didn't even bother saying goodbye to Stan as he stormed up to the Hogwarts gates. He was scowling at the gates, and was therefore very surprised to see a professor waiting for them with the same expression. 

* * *

Professor Snape was currently working on two potions. One was a healing potion while the other was dreamless sleep. He was currently scowling since he had just gotten another blasted letter from that moron Stephen Jorkins and had a few scratches from the ministry owl, not to mention yet _another_ ruined potion.

He was also in a bad mood since he knew that idiot Gilderoy Lockhart would be showing up at the castle any day now. Rumor had it that he was the temporary guardian to a small child, and while Snape normally detested children, he couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit sorry for any child who had to be in that dunderhead's care.

It was as he was carefully stirring one potion while glancing at the other when he heard his floo go off. Thankfully he was at a stage where both potions could be left alone for a few minutes without going wrong or exploding.

McGonagall was there, explaining that Gilderoy Lockhart would be showing up any minute now with his charge and someone had to let them in through the gates and show them to their quarters. She really would do it herself, but she was just so busy and -

With a snarl, Snape had declared that he was currently brewing all the potions he was very behind on, but Minerva wouldn't waver.

So it was after hastily putting a stasis spell on both potions, that Snape had very reluctantly gone outside. It was to his surprise that he saw not a beaming Lockhart, but a scowling one that matched his own expression. He also saw that Lockhart was holding the child who seemed to be crying.

Oh joy.

He let Lockhart in and noticed with disgust that Lockhart and the girl seemed to be wearing matching outfits. He muttered to Lockhart to follow him and without waiting to see if Lockhart actually was following, Snape turned on his heel and lead them into the castle, with his robes billowing dramatically.

Lockhart watched Snape's robes appreciatively and was wondering how he could get his own to do so. The man might be a bit on the grumpy side, but you couldn't deny that he had style.

He tried to school his own expression into something more neutral, since it wouldn't do for everyone's first impression of him to see him in such a horrible mood. He rubbed Lillian's back soothingly and softly promised her that next time they wouldn't take the death trap known as the Knight Bus.

Snape snorted at that, but refrained from commenting as he led them up to the office for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The door to Lockhart's quarters would be off of that.

"Here's your room," Snape said shortly to Lockhart once they had reached it.

Lockhart nodded appreciatively, and was about to ask Severus about helping Lillian, when the man suddenly stalked off.

"W-wait!" Lockhart called out, but Snape either didn't hear him or pretended not to and continued on his way.

Lockhart sighed and frowned at the man's back. He just knew that Snape was going to make things difficult. He could feel it. Trying not to dwell on thoughts of Snape, he opened the door to his rather bare office and stepped inside.

He looked around, finding the room to be rather empty. It had a desk and a chair, as well as a bookshelf for his books, but that was about it. The walls were bare and it had no personality of its own. Well, he would soon change that. As he looked around more, he spotted the door that lead to his quarters and hurriedly carried Lillian through it. The sooner they got everything settled, the better.

As he carried Lillian through the door, he found himself in a sitting room of sorts. There was a couch and more bookshelves to make it cozy, as well as a fireplace. His office also had a fireplace as well.

Off the sitting room there were more rooms. Through one doorway, he spotted a small kitchen nook with just enough space to house a stove with a few cupboards and a small table with two chairs. He supposed this was here in case he didn't feel like having meals in the Great Hall.

He walked over to another doorway and opened it to find an empty room. He furrowed his brow as he tried to discover this room's purpose, but a sniffle from poor Lillian reminded him that he could figure it out later. He closed the door on this mysterious room and then went through another doorway to a small hall.

He soon found the bathroom, which looked very cozy with a large bath and ornate tiles on the floor. There were several large fluffy towels on a shelf and he could already see various bath oils and things on another shelf.

That meant that the other two rooms must be their bedrooms. After investigating them, he surmised that the largest was for him, while the smaller one was for Lillian. He was glad that her room would be close by his, just in case she might need him for anything. He could see Lillian already had a large four poster bed, but everything else was rather bare.

He carried her over to the bed and gently set her down. Pulling out his handkerchief, he wiped her tears away.

"Now, now!" he said with a smile. "No need for all these tears when we have a room to decorate! What say we call a house elf and get your room sorted, hm?"

Lillian wiped her eyes and looked around her room. The walls were made of stone and she had no window. She pouted a little at that, since it made her room look a little dark.

"Can I have a window?" she asked Gilderoy hesitantly. She wasn't sure if they could magic up a window or not.

"Why certainly, dear girl! I'm sure it'll be no trouble for you to have a big magical window. Maybe we can see if you can have a view of the lake? That would be lovely." Lockhart replied happily to her.

Lillian smiled at that.

"And.. can my walls look like at home? And my bed?"

Lockhart nodded.

"I don't see why not! Now let me see.. What was the name of that elf that Professor Dumbledore said we could use? Mipsy..? No.. Moppy? Moppet? Muppet?"

Lillian giggled at all the silly names Gilderoy was coming up with. He was so silly!

"Oh yes.. I remember now! Tippy!"

And very suddenly, there was a loud crack and a small house elf was standing near Lockhart. She had big, bat-like ears and large eyes. Instead of clothes, she was wearing a tea towel like a toga that had the Hogwarts crest on it.

Lillian gave a small shriek at the loud noise that Tippy made when she appeared, and Lillian hastily scrambled backwards onto the middle of the bed, staring at the house elf with wide eyes.

"Tippy," Lockhart said jovially as he gestured at Lillian. "This is Lillian, and this is to be her room. However, it seems to be a bit bare and we would require your assistance in decorating?"

Tippy beamed at that and nodded her head happily.

"Tippy is happy to help, sir and miss!" she said in a squeaky little voice that had Lillian giggling.

It seemed to take no time at all to get Lillian's things unpacked with Tippy's help and soon Lillian had a large magical window that did indeed have a view of the lake. Lillian had fun staring out the window, and she could have sworn she saw a large tentacle waving at her from the lake.

She had a brief thought that maybe even the Loch Ness Monster could be in there, before she furrowed her brow and wondered where that thought had come from. She had never heard of that before, right?

At Lockhart's urging, Lillian had taken her trunk out of her pocket which was was promptly placed at the foot of her bed and unshrunk. Tippy had used her powers to place all of Lillian's clothes into a large wardrobe, and with a snap of her fingers, Lillian's toys had found themselves on various shelves around the room while her books had appeared in a small book shelf. Lillian noted with a small pout that her toy potions kit was placed on a high shelf where she wouldn't be able to reach it without help.

Her wooden box wound up on a small table near her bedside and even her bed had changed to be pink just like the one she had back home. While her walls were still bare stone, Lockhart had promised to go home as soon as he could via the floo to fetch her spring pictures, to spruce up her walls a bit. He doubted if they could paint her walls to match her room back home, but he did promise to try and find a wintery painting for her.

As soon as her room was done, he had settled her onto the bed with a book and asked her to read quietly while he did his own unpacking.

So as Lillian was settling back in bed with one of her children's books, Lockhart unpacked the rest of his belongings and went about making their quarters more homey. They both couldn't help but wonder what the rest of their day at the castle would be like. 

* * *

While the two were getting settled into their quarters, Professor Snape returned to his potions, removing the stasis spell. As he did so, he heard his floo flare into life and couldn't help but sigh as he heard Dumbledore's voice.

"Ah, my dear boy.." Dumbledore said happily as he invaded Snape's quarters, by stepping out of the fireplace. "I needed to speak with you about something of importance."

Snape bit back another sigh as he reluctantly recast the stasis spells. Was _everyone_ going to interrupt his potion brewing?!

* * *

Author's Note: Poor Professor Snape! He'll never get all his brewing done. :P Anywho, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Wizards really do need better ways of traveling around for small children, don't they? And even though Lillian was upset, she wasn't upset enough yet to set off her spring powers.

Any guesses on what Dumbledore wanted? (Don't worry, I already know.) Anyway, I forgot that at some point Lockhart had a book signing to get to, so that'll be in the next chapter. Or more like we'll skip the book signing and see what Lillian will be up to. And don't worry, Harry and Ron and Co. will be showing up soon too.


	5. Chapter Five: Settling In

Author's Note: Here's the next chapter, as promised. It's not as long as the last one, but I hope you still like it. Lockhart and Lillian are getting settled into their quarters at Hogwarts still. The next chapter will probably skip to when Lockhart's gone on his book signing, or at least a couple days.

Reviews:

CrossoverJunkie: Thanks! I really hated canon Lockhart, since he's just so.. so.. _arrogant._ That's part of the reason why I toned him down a bit. Another reason is that Lillian is helping him to get in touch with his non-selfish side. Plus her giggling at his antics and embarrassing him are what is also keeping him in check. For instance, his lesson plans. I believe I mentioned in the last chapter that he had run them by Lillian, to see what she thought and she laughed herself silly at the thought of a quiz that was all about Lockhart. So Lockhart's classes should be a little different than they are in the book. I really hate it when people introduce major changes to a story, only to have the events go EXACTLY like in the book. So we'll see what's changed! :)

Lady Syndra: Haha, that would be interesting to see how she'd get along with the twins. I think they might convince her to pull some pranks on some people. And of course Lillian likes cute potions! The more adult analytical part of her mind is curious about how certain ingredients go together to do certain things, so naturally she'd make the leap to combining the potions together. It'll be interesting to see how things play out once all the students arrive!

Anonymous: Thanks to your review, you inspired (guilted) me into updating this and Child of Spring. I don't mind you talking about my other fic here. :) I've already started on the next chapter for Child of Spring, as I really want to get my ideas for the rest of the chapter out before I forget about them. I also need to hurry up and update this fic again so I can get the plot moving along. I feel like it's taking forever!

 **Chapter Five: Settling In**

Snape sighed, as he thought of his potions that were waiting on him as Dumbledore made himself comfortable in his sitting room. He begrudgingly found a seat in an armchair near Dumbledore.

"What is it?" he asked, as Dumbledore waved his wand, and a tea set appeared in thin air.

Dumbledore helped himself to a cup of tea and with another wave of his wand, sent a cup flying over to Severus.

Snape impatiently snatched the cup out of the air, as Dumbledore sampled his own cup.

"Mm, quite good," Dumbledore said with a smile. He noticed the look Severus was giving him and his eyes twinkled. "I know you just let our new teacher into the castle, and his young ward. It's most peculiar, since the castle wards have just informed me that a powerful magical being has just entered the castle."

What?!

Snape nearly spat out his tea at that.

He thought of that, and of who he let into the castle.

"You can't mean - " he started, and then stopped.

It _couldn't_ be..

"I was hoping that you might keep a close eye on our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The wards haven't indicated that this presence is dangerous. Indeed, if this magical being meant us any harm, it would have triggered the castle's defenses."

Snape gaped at Dumbledore.

"You can't mean that overstuffed popinjay is.. is.."

Dumbledore smiled at Snape.

"Now Severus, you can't judge a book by its cover, hm?"

* * *

Lillian sat on her bed reading her book, but her eyes kept wandering over to her toy potions kit, which was high on a shelf. Sure, she couldn't reach it from the floor, buuut..

With mischevious smirk she set her book aside and wandered over to where her desk was. She grabbed the chair and as quietly as she could, she pushed it over to where the toy potions kit was.

Soon she had the kit down and in her arms. She saw that it was advertised as being for 9+, but she was mature for her age. Really!

She looked at the picture on the front to see that it came with a small cauldron, all the ingredients she would need, plus instructions and its own toy wand that she would use on the cauldron.

 _Simulates real magic! Your child says 'incendio' and real fire lights the cauldron!_ the box said enticingly.

Oooh, she couldn't wait!

Lillian eagerly tore open the box and set the cauldron down on the stone floor. She grabbed the instructions, which were in a small book and opened them up.

Let's see.. The cauldron is magically protected.. Place it anywhere, fire won't harm surface...

Boring, boring.. skip ahead, skip ahead..

Aha!

She found the instructions for the first potion, which was the color changing potion. She looked at the ingredients, which thankfully weren't _too_ gross.

 _Place cauldron on a flat surface and fill cauldron with water, being careful not to overfill,_ the instructions started. _Then grab your wand and aim at the bottom of the cauldron. Make sure you have your parent to supervise! After aiming carefully say 'incendio!' and watch as a fire lights under your cauldron._

Hmm.. Fill with water. Lillian remembered the bathroom was nearby and picked up the small cauldron. She walked over to her door and peeked out. The coast was clear.. perfect!

A half an hour later, Lillian had her potion simmering away in the cauldron. She watched as it started to turn various colors. It was pretty interesting, but it was also a little boring just watching it sit there and change colors.

She was glad she got the potion right on the first try, and had gotten out a quill, ink and parchment from her desk and made notes on the ingredients she'd want to look up later. She wanted to see if she could mix them in other potions or not, as she thought of the color changing bubbles she wanted to make.

After she had taken her notes, she left the parchment on her desk to dry and then sat down by her cauldron to watch it change colors. She had set it up on the floor, since it seemed like the safest place to put it. The instructions had claimed the fire under the cauldron wouldn't harm any surface, but it still didn't seem like a good idea to her to set it up on her desk.

She could just imagine Gilderoy's disappointed look as he took in the burn marks she could have left on the desk. So she had placed it down on the stone floor.

As she sat staring down at the cauldron, she wondered if it would change the colors of anything it touched. She thought about dropping a quill into the cauldron when another thought occurred to her.

She grinned as she suddenly thought of her hair. It was a pretty cool rich brown color, but just imagine how much cooler it would be if it could change colors!

So without another thought, she grabbed a flask that came with the set out of the box and a small ladle. She carefully scooped up some of the potion and poured into the flask, until it was full. Then without further ado, she poured the whole thing over her head.

Lillian giggled as the still warm potion dripped down her head. Her smile faded however, when her scalp started to.. tingle.

Was it supposed to do that?

When it started to burn, she hastily grabbed the instructions and groaned in dismay when she saw the disclaimer at the very end.

 _WARNING: Volatile substance! Wash hands immediately if it comes into contact with skin. Contact your local healer or potions master if it comes into contact with eyes._

Lillian winced as it _really_ started to burn. She reached up to her head and then stopped, remembering that she wasn't supposed to touch it.

Lillian whimpered when it felt like her head was on fire. Was it really _that_ volatile? Who gave this stuff to kids anyway?!

She worried what this was doing to her scalp and hair, and thought maybe the potion would act like acid. This thought sent her into a panic and she started to cry loudly.

"GILDEROY!" Lillian shouted loudly from her room, just as her bracelet began to glow brightly.

A few minutes later, Lockhart rushed into Lillian's room. It wasn't just her panicked shouting that drew his attention, but the thunder that sounded like it was coming from her room. He remembered that what's-his-name, Jenkins..? Jerkins? Had told him that Lillian had displayed some very powerful accidental magic. Now Lockhart could see what he meant.

He looked around in dismay at the raging storm in her room, complete with booming thunder and lightning.

Good grief, what would the headmaster say if he could see this?! Or the other teachers! It was a catastrophe!

He saw little Lillian in the center of all that catastrophe. She was huddled under a shelf to shelter herself from the rain, and she had some sort of goop on her head. It was then that he noticed a small cauldron in her room, with a magical fire burning merrily underneath it despite all the rain.

Shaking his head and deciding he'd find out about that later, he pulled out his wand.

" _Finite incantatem!_ " he bellowed dramatically, as he pointed his wand at the storm.

While he looked particularly dashing while doing it, it did nothing to diminish the storm.

"Ah.. _evanesco?_ " Lockhart said somewhat more hesitantly, ruining the dramatic effect.

"Oh go away!" Lillian shouted at the storm, while pointing an accusing finger at it.

And just like that, the thunder and lightning stopped and the rain tapered off as the clouds magically diminished and then dissipated.

Lockhart stared first at where the clouds had been, then at the complete and _utter_ mess Lillian's room was, and finally at Lillian herself, who was still crying.

She rushed out from her hiding place under the shelf to babble at Lockhart desperately.

He had a hard time understanding what she was saying due to her still crying, but he understood she said something about a potion -

Wait a minute..

He looked at the goop on her hair, and then remembered the cauldron in her room.

She wouldn't..

Would she?

Lockhart looked down at the crying girl and then at the goop in her hair again.

"Er.. my dear, did you put a potion in your hair?" he asked, while praying to every deity he knew of that the answer was no.

Lillian nodded as big tears rolled down her cheeks.

"It really hurts! Is it gonna eat all my hair off?! Make it go away!" she wailed at Gilderoy.

Lockhart raised his wand to banish the potion, but then stopped. What if he accidentally banished all her hair? He supposed that's what hair restoration potions were for, but..

Oh dear, if only there were someone who..

Someone...

That's it!

"To the floo!" he cried out dramatically, as he remembered that there was someone who could help them in this situation.

Lockhart grabbed Lillian's hand and raced over to the floo. He grabbed up his floo powder and cried out "Severus Snape's quarters!" as he threw the powder down in the fire.

Before Lillian could protest about being burned up in the fire, she found herself being held in Lockhart's arms as he raced into the now green fire.

They stepped out hurriedly from Snape's fireplace at the other end. Severus was still in his sitting room as he had just seen Dumbledore off not that long ago. He was sipping the tea that Dumbledore had summoned from the kitchens. It was one of his favorites, and he had a feeling that Dumbledore had chosen it on purpose to calm him.

He gave an irritated sigh as he heard his floo go off _again_ and saw that Lockhart was (very rudely, he might add.. Not even bothering to call first!) stepping out of his fire while holding a wailing little girl.

Wonderful.

"Professor!" Lockhart said in a rush as he raced over to Severus. For some reason, it appeared that they were both soaking wet. The girl's legs and the lower part of her dress were completely soaked and Lockhart was missing his hat, while his robes were dripping all over the floor.

Snape slammed his tea cup back down in its saucer and glared the two.

Lockhart either didn't notice or didn't care as he went on to explain the situation.

"..So you see, I thought you might have something to diffuse potion so it wouldn't hurt Lil - " Lockhart went on explaining, but was cut off as Snape stood up in an instant and grabbed Lillian right out of Lockhart's arms.

Without another word, Snape strode from the room very quickly and soon had Lillian in his bathroom. He deposited her down in the shower, clothes and all and then turned the water on warm.

"Close your eyes," he snapped at the child, as he saw the potion being washed out of her hair.

Lillian did so, while sniffling. The burning was _finally_ lessening now that the potion was being washed out of her hair.

When all traces of the goop were out of Lillian's hair, Snape turned the water off. He pulled her out of the shower and before she could even complain about being in a soaking wet dress, he had waved his wand at her and she was dry in an instant.

Her hand wandered up to her head, as she could still feel some buring there, but before she could feel her scalp Snape had smacked her hand away.

" _Don't_ touch it," he warned her in a frightening tone.

Lillian's eyes went wide at this, as she couldn't ever remember being spoken to in such a way.

Snape grabbed Lillian's hand and dragged her out to the sitting room by Lockhart and immediately let go. Before Lockhart could say anything, Snape had strode off again, this time to his potions lab. He had several premade potions and salves stored away on shelves around the room and it was here that he went.

A few minutes later he returned to the still tearful Lillian and bewildered Lockhart. He unscrewed the lid of the jar to the salve he had grabbed and slathered some gently on Lillian's scalp, being mindful of the burns there.

Lillian finally stopped crying as the burning suddenly ceased. She blinked up at Snape in wonder, as he screwed the lid back on the jar and handed it to Lockhart.

"You'll probably need this more than I will," Snape said to him, his lips curling in distaste. "Considering you've only been in the castle for less than an hour and have already encountered your first disaster."

Lockhart flushed in embarrassment at this as he stored the jar away in a robe pocket. He too was dry now, after he remembered to cast a drying charm on himself and on Severus' floors.

"Ah.. thank you," Lockhart said after recovering himself.

Snape eyed Lillian with dislike, since he didn't like any small children. Why he stayed on as a professor at the school all these years always puzzled the students.

"A toy potions kit, I presume?" he asked them both.

Lillian nodded sheepishly.

"I wanted my hair to change colors."

Snape rolled his eyes at this.

"You need hair dye for that," he said as though talking to someone rather slow, and then directed his next comment to Lockhart. "And you do realize that those kits are for those who are nearly ready for Hogwarts and _not_ small children?"

Lockhart looked rather embarrassed again, but covered it up with a grin.

"Of course I do, I merely thought that young Lillian here might enjoy making some potions, with the proper supervision of course! I only left her alone in her room for a few minutes anyway, while I tidied up our quarters. I don't even know how she got that kit down from the shelf it was on."

Lillian looked down at the floor guiltily at that. Here she was, in a brand new place and she was already causing trouble. This guy already didn't seem to like her. What if she was so naughty that Lockhart gave her back to Mr. Jorkins?

"The funny thing about children is that they often have a habit of getting into precisely what they shouldn't. I suggest in the future that you keep that potions kit under lock and key," Snape said with a derisive glance at Lillian.

"Yes, er.. I will keep that in mind," Lockhart said, his grin faltering a bit. "Oh, by the way, Lillian. This is Professor Snape. He teaches potions here at Hogwarts."

Lillian's eyes lit up at that, as that was precisely what she was most interested in at the moment.

"Do you know how to make color changing bubbles?" Lillian asked Snape excitedly, forgetting all about her poor scalp at the moment.

Severus rolled his eyes at that.

"Why would I care about something as silly as color changing bubbles?" he asked Lillian.

Lillian opened her mouth to reply, but Snape interrupted her prattling.

"I still have quite a few potions to catch up on, so if you're quite finished with your little crisis.." he trailed off with a pointed look at Lockhart.

"Oh! Yes, yes.." Lockhart said distractedly as he gave Lillian a worried glance. "There won't be any lasting effects, will there? Should I take her to Madam Pomfrey?"

Snape gave an exasperated sigh. He couldn't fault Lockhart for caring about his charge (even Snape had been somewhat worried about the wailing child, not that he'd _ever_ admit it), but did Lockhart have to bother him?!

"I put a burn salve on her head. Leave it on for about ten minutes, then wash her hair out carefully. If her scalp still looks irritated, then put more salve on it for another twenty minutes or so, and that should take care of it. If you still see anything after _that_ , then I would take her to the hospital wing. Now if you don't mind.."

Snape trailed off as he ushered them towards the fireplace.

Lillian however, hung back.

"I don't wanna go in the fire," she said, her voice getting a little higher.

"Now, now," Lockhart said with a smile at Lillian. "There is absolutely nothing dangerous about traveling by floo! Besides, we are all the way down in the dungeons, and it would be quite a walk for you to go upstairs. We have already tresspassed enough on poor Professor Snape's goodwill, so why don't you be a good girl and thank him, hm?"

Lillian blushed at that, as she had forgotten all about her manners. She turned hestiantly towards Professor Snape, only to see that he had stormed off and left them there.

"Um.." she started, only to yelp as Lockhart scooped her up.

"Nevermind then, you can thank him when you see him later at dinner," Lockhart said as he located the floor powder and threw some down. Before Lillian could further protest going into the fireplace, Lockhart had stepped inside.

The rest of the day was spent tidying Lillian's room up, as Gilderoy hadn't wanted to ask a house elf for help, in case word had gotten back to Dumbledore on how Lillian had managed to destroy her room on the first day.

Lockhart was rather exhausted when he was finished, as it had taken several very strong drying charms to completely dry out her room. As for her bedding, well.. he had discreetly banished it all down to the laundry and then had transfigured some things into some new bedding for her, at least for the time being.

Lillian complained that the sheets felt scratchy, but fell silent when Lockhart reminded her of how her other sheets had been practically ruined.

"Yes, I think something like this will require a little discipline," Lockhart continued, as Lillian gulped. "Let's see now.. No making any potions with your kit until the weekend and you are confined to our quarters until dinner this evening. I think that sounds fair, don't you?"

Lillian pouted at that.  
"I wanted to make the other potion too," she said as she crossed her arms.

"As Professor Snape kindly pointed out, those potions are far too advanced for someone your age," Lockhart began, only to be cut off by an indignant Lillian.

"I made the first potion right!" she cried out. "I only had a problem when I dumped it on my head!"

"AND," Lockhart said, raising his voice to speak over her, "you obviously need supervision while making them. I will be very busy this week redoing my lesson plan, and I have that book signing to attend to. Maybe if Professor Snape isn't busy, he could help you with them, but I don't want you bothering him about it! Do you understand?"

With a huff, Lillian reluctantly nodded.

"Good, now be a good girl and quietly read your books this time. I think I'll take a nap before dinner," Lockhart said as he left Lillian to her own devices. He started to close the door to her room, but thought better of it as he left it cracked open instead.

He wondered if children were always going to be so exhausting all the time, and worried yet again about what he would do with her while he was teaching his own classes. He supposed he could just keep her in his classroom... Well, for the lower years anyway. Maybe the other teachers would be willing to help him out.

* * *

While Lockhart continued to worry, Albus Dumbledore was in his office, looking at his various instruments he had strewn about the room. He was watching them closely, as not that long ago one of them had indicated that a very powerful magic was just used.

Now that is interesting, Dumbledore thought to himself. He wondered if it could possibly have anything to do with his new guests. While Lockhart had alluded to many great deeds in his books, the man himself didn't really give off an aura of any sort of outstanding power.

Then again, perhaps Lockhart was more powerful than he thought.

* * *

Author's Note: I just have to say.. Are you as amused as I am that everyone keeps mistaking the powerful magic as coming from Lockhart? Of _course_ they wouldn't suspect Lillian, since she's just a small child. And yes, I'm finding it very amusing that Lockhart has his hands very full with an inquisitive child like Lillian. With powerful spring magic that she can't control, she's even more of a handful than other children. I think for Lockhart's book signing, Lillian's going to have to do some wandering around the castle. We probably won't see much of Lockhart, since we've already seen that in the books.. Then again, maybe it would be more interesting from his point of view? Ah well, I'll probably just skip around.

If you have any ideas on any mischief Lillian should get into, let me know! ;) I have certain plot points figured out, but not everything. It won't be too much longer until Harry arrives at Hogwarts. I can't wait!


	6. Chapter Six: Settling in Part Two

Author's Note: I can't believe it's been so long since I updated! My last update happened before I had major life stuff going on in July, then I was too distracted to update. I wrote most of this chapter in May and then promptly got writer's block when I went to continue it much later, in late July/early August. This chapter kept staring at me while I was updating Child of Spring so much and now that I have some stressful things going on and I wanted to do something fluffy, this chapter kept poking at me until I made the necessary edits to continue on with it. This chapter has some cute things going on as well as some Peeves. I admit the poltergeist is what kept me in writer's block. I wound up saving the parts of the chapter I cut and pasted parts of it back in.

Reviews:

csquared101: You'll have to see for yourself if Lillian ever gets her memory back. :) I'm not sure about Snape being her mentor, but I can see several cute interactions in the future involving potions. I imagine it will be several months before they realize that she's not growing, perhaps even longer if plot distracts them. We'll see!

Fenghuang0296: I'll definitely have to do that!

Crossover Junkie: The beginning of this chapter addresses this somewhat, as we get to see what Lockhart's beliefs on that are. But I'm sure it won't be too long before a certain potions professor takes notice.

KijoKuroi: Psst, her name is _Lillian,_ not Lillith. As for Dumbledore, it'll be interesting to see if he knows anything (I know if he does, but we haven't gotten that far into the story yet) about the Child of Spring or not. As for the basilisk, that is an interesting question! We already know that ordinary magical spells and potions do work on Lillian. However, the basilisk kills whoever looks it straight in the eyes. We know that Lillian has already died and is only moving around thanks to the Man in the Moon. She is alive as a Spirit, so it would be interesting to find out what would happen. Would Lillian simply be forced to fade as her spirit self died? Or would something else entirely happen? Hm! I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

SimpleWriter44: This brings up an interesting question: Would the Spring Spirit be able to influence or affect magical plants? Yes, you are talking about the right book. Mandrakes do show up this year. I'm not sure about how to get her in Harry's class since mandrakes do sound a little dangerous for a six-year-old, but we'll see. Seeing her playing with the Whomping Willow would be hilarious since I could see her playing harmlessly with it while everyone else has a heart attack when they spot her.

("Blimey, how come it's not trying to pound _her_ into the ground?!" Ron exclaimed as he gaped at the sight of Lillian sitting in one of the lower branches, while it gently swayed with her on it.)

Silversun XD: You guilted me into writing more for this chapter at the time you posted this review, but then I hit my writer's block. I'm happy to say that it's over with for now. :)

Now, on with the chapter!

 **Chapter Six: Settling In Part Two**

Lockhart had no sooner reached his room when he realized he forgot all about the salve on Lillian's head. He took the jar he had stashed away in his pocket back out and saw it was labeled as burn salve.

With a sigh, he set the salve somewhere where Lillian wouldn't be able to reach and cast a _tempus_ , to see that already five minutes had passed. He decided to busy himself around his quarters for the next five minutes and soon had fetched Lillian to carefully wash it out.

Lillian had complained the entire time that her head still hurt and she didn't like the water hitting it. She had also complained that she was in the middle of a really interesting story and didn't want to wash her hair again anyway.

Lockhart smiled indulgently at that since he knew Lillian was probably looking at the pictures instead. She had him read her a story every night before bed and surely if she was able to read them herself, she would do so. It was also cute how she thought she could use her toy potions kit to make potions out of it. He was just lucky that she could read a little and guess her way through the rest.

He didn't suspect for a minute that Lillian treasured their reading time because she treasured the family experience. She could remember hardly anything and therefore had no recollection of anyone reading her to sleep every night. It was partly the reason she was so happy to spend as much time as possible with Gilderoy. She couldn't remember having any parental figure, and his parenting while a little inexperienced, seemed comforting to her.

She supposed it was because she was a child and wanted to be parented and loved, but she couldn't help the niggling feeling she got whenever she thought that. If she was only a child, then why did big words pop into her head sometimes? She knew she could read exceptionally well, and she knew from the scolding both she and Gilderoy got from Professor Snape about her toy potions kit, that it was not normal for her to be able to read the instructions and brew the potions it contained.

It was made for someone much older than her. Those thoughts made her head hurt though, so she ignored them after her head had been all healed by the salve (they had to do a second dose for twenty minutes that she wasn't particularly happy about, since the salve smelled kind of funny), and read from one of her books quietly until it was time for dinner.

Lillian had stared all around her as Lockhart carried her down to the Great Hall, claiming that was quite a lot of stairs for someone whose legs were so short. Lillian had been a little offended at first, but now didn't mind at all, as she could keep staring at all the moving portraits and suits of armor without worrying about where she was going.

Some of the portraits on the wall waved at her, and Lillian shyly waved back at them. She could see many of them flit into their neighbors' portrait to whisper in their ear, as they stared curiously at her and Lockhart.

Lockhart wasn't paying any attention to them and so didn't comment on it. Soon they had made their way down to the entrance hall.

"Now, I want you to smile and give a good first impression," Lockhart coached as he set her gently down on her feet and helped her straighten her dress out. Lillian had convinced Lockhart to change into his pink robes, so she could wear her favorite pink dress. She wasn't entirely sure why this particular one was her favorite, but she knew deep down that it was. Lockhart had decided that he should change as well, since he'd been doing all sorts of things in the robes he had been wearing, and it might be nice to change into something fresh for dinner.

Lillian flashed him a rather nervous grin and Lockhart shook his head good-naturedly at it.

"Now, no need to be so worried! There are only a few teachers here, and it will be a good time for us to ask Professor Snape for help with your memories, hm?"

Before Lillian could reply, however, Lockhart finished straightening her dress and had grabbed her hand and walked through the doorway to the Great Hall.

Lillian felt like her eyes were going to fall out of her head as she stared around at all the hundreds of floating candles that lit up the hall. She was particularly entranced by the ceiling that was enchanted to look like the sky.

She found herself staring particularly at the moon, which shone brightly down on all of them. She wasn't sure why the moon held such appeal to her, but she thought she could see it glow a little more brightly as she and Lockhart walked towards the high table where the teachers and Professor Dumbledore all sat.

Lockhart could already see Dumbledore was seated with McGonagall as they approached the table, but was disappointed to see that Professor Snape was nowhere to be seen. He could see Flitwick was already there along with Hagrid.

Hagrid gave a merry wave at them, accidentally causing McGonagall to duck out of harm's way while Flitwick chuckled quietly at the sight.

Lillian stared up at all the adults and found her feet dragging as she fell a little behind. By the time they made it up to the table, Lillian was completely hidden behind Lockhart who had only noticed since his hand that she was holding was now behind his back.

Lockhart flashed them an amused grin.

"Well, I would introduce you all to my charge, but she seems to be hiding at the moment. It's good to see you all again. My, how time does fly! It seems like only yesterday I was a student here," he went on.

McGonagall straightened herself in her chair with a glance at Hagrid, who seemed completely oblivious to almost knocking her out.

She might have exchanged a look with Severus at this point, but as he wasn't here she had to content herself with looking down at Lockhart over the rim of her spectacles. She did indeed remember young Lockhart but found him rather.. lacking. Yes, he had been sorted into Ravenclaw, and while he certainly seemed particularly studious, he seemed to be lacking in the practical application of what he learned.

Transfiguration seemed to be particularly difficult for him, while he excelled at Charms and was mediocre in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He did alright in Herbology, but it was clear that it held little interest to him, as the plants often caught him by surprise. She remembered Slughorn had complimented Lockhart on his potions saying that he was particularly good at answering the questions, but had difficulty getting the timing down. Since Lockhart didn't have any good connections in his family, he hadn't been invited to join the Slug Club, something that McGonagall knew that Slughorn was probably regretting, since Lockhart turned out to be so famous and do so many interesting things.

She often wondered how someone who was merely average or a little below average in Defense Against the Dark Arts could do so many amazing things, but she had shrugged and assumed he had been studying after he got out of school. She had to hand it to him since most kids weren't too interested in learning anything after they graduated unless it applied to the job they were hoping to get.

Apparently, Lockhart still had quite a bit of the Ravenclaw left in him, if he was so keen on studying more. While she was giving Lockhart her analytical look, she couldn't help but notice the small scrap of pink she could see poking out from behind Lockhart's back.

Her stern look melted a little as she smiled at that. How Lockhart wound up in charge of such an adorable child, she would never know.

Dumbledore was similarly analyzing Lockhart as he smiled jovially down at him and Lillian. He couldn't help but wonder if he could get Lockhart to give some sort of display, that might hint at some of the powerful magic that was used earlier. But if it was Lockhart, why was he using it? What was he up to?

He had already asked several of the portraits around the castle to keep a close eye on Lockhart for him and had even asked Severus as well. He hoped at some point this little mystery could be solved since he didn't want such power to be displayed around the other students at the school. He would hope that Lockhart would have more tact than that, but Dumbledore could clearly see that Lockhart liked to show off, and had little doubt that if Lockhart had such power at his disposal, that he wouldn't hesitate to show it off to his classes.

Dumbledore forced his thoughts away from angry letters from parents as he offered the two of them a seat, gesturing to a couple that was at the end of the left side of the table. One was a regular chair, while the other was.. very odd.

It wasn't actually a chair, at least not in the normal sense. It had a seat and a small back, but instead of having legs that went to the ground, it was actually attached to the table.

Lockhart gave it an amused look as he finally got Lillian to come out of hiding.

"What's all this then?" he asked as he gestured at it.

Dumbledore happily explained that he had seen it advertised for a store in a muggle newspaper he had gotten and thought that little Lillian might enjoy using that rather than having to sit on something to boost her up to table height. It was actually made for infants, rather than six-year-olds, but Dumbledore had easily transfigured it to be big enough for Lillian and magic kept it in place so it wouldn't fall from the table.

Lockhart still looked amused and before Lillian could even think about complaining, he had picked her up and set her down in it.

Lillian looked surprised to be trapped in a chair and looked all around at the table. It was unusual for her to be at table height since she was so short. She wasn't sure she liked being stuck in her seat though since the arms that attached to the table effectively prevented her from climbing down from the chair. Lillian kicked her feet a little, disconcerted that she couldn't even feel the floor underneath her feet.

Before anything else could be said, however, dinner appeared in the middle of the table and soon Lillian's plate was filled by Lockhart with lots of delicious things to eat as well as plenty of vegetables, much to her disgust.

One part of Lillian was tempted to whine about it, while another was completely amazed at food that appeared out of thin air. Yet another part told her that she was far too old to whine about such things and she told that part to shut up, she'd act any way she wanted to! Besides, she was still a child and children did those sorts of things, right?

Much to her embarrassment, Lockhart had reached over and cut her chicken up into child-sized pieces. She also looked at her silverware to see that she had been given a plastic.. something. She held it up in confusion but realized that would be the reason that Lockhart had cut her food up for her since she was incapable of doing much of anything with that.. whatever she had been given.

Dumbledore chuckled when he noticed her examining the silverware she had been given. He was highly amused when he first saw one and thought it would be appropriate for a small child to use. No sense having her hurting herself at the dinner table after all!

"That my dear child, is what is known as a spork," Dumbledore said with his eyes twinkling merrily. "It is a muggle item that is made out of plastic and is a combination of a spoon and a fork. I myself find it quite interesting," he finished not seeming to notice that everyone was staring at him with incredulous looks.

Lillian looked at the spork rather doubtfully and used it to clumsily spear a piece of chicken. She blushed when the chicken fell off before it reached her mouth and she discovered she had to use a bit of force to keep her food on the small pointed end. Since it was more dull than an actual fork and plastic instead of metal, and the prongs were so short she had a harder time spearing food on it. She gave Lockhart a pouty look at this, since she had been using normal forks just fine, thank you very much! But Lockhart was busy talking to Professor Dumbledore.

With a huffy sigh, Lillian continued to eat in silence and wondered if she would have to eat _all_ her meals in the Great Hall with this.. this.. _spork._ She frowned at the offending plastic utensil and wondered what was so great about magic if it couldn't even be used to charm a normal fork so a kid couldn't hurt themselves with it. What did they think she was going to do anyway? Poke her eye out?

Lillian glanced up from her inward grumbles at the first rumble of thunder. She flinched badly, thinking she had somehow caused another storm.

Lockhart was clearly thinking along the same lines as he shot Lillian a worried glance but smoothly covered it up with a chuckle.

"Nothing to worry about, my dear!" he said in a tone of false cheer. "It's just a storm brewing. Looks like it'll be a doozy."

He glanced up at the enchanted ceiling as he said this, and noticed that dark, gloomy storm clouds had gathered while he was chatting away. Lightning flashed brightly across the ceiling followed by a loud boom of thunder.

Dumbledore was surprised when the wards went off, informing him of powerful magic being used. He glanced in surprise at Lockhart, but the man had clearly not done anything that he could see. A frown flickered across his face for an instant, before he quickly hid it away. If only Severus was here, so he could have an extra set of eyes on Lockhart. He knew he could always ask Minerva, but Severus was a master at this sort of thing.

When another loud boom sounded, there was a clatter as Lillian dropped her spork. Her bracelet had started glowing earlier as her mood turned darker, but she hadn't noticed and now she was too preoccupied with the growing storm to see it. As she was sitting the farthest away from everyone, no one had apparently noticed this anomaly either.

Lockhart gave her a reassuring smile but glanced at the ceiling with somewhat worried eyes all the same. Had Lillian done this in a fit of accidental magic? He had never seen her accidentally create an actual storm outside though.

Deciding discretion was the better part of making a good first impression, he gave everyone his best toothy smile, the one that had won him Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award. While it was a nice looking smile, it was also very fake but one he liked to pull out when he didn't want anyone to see what he was truly feeling at the time. Right now he was more worried than anything, but he didn't want to make a fuss in front of the other professors or Dumbledore.

"I think little Lillian here is getting quite nervous from the storm, so I think it would be best if we finished our meal back at our quarters. You all understand, I'm sure," he said as he gestured at the ceiling.

Lillian was now ignoring her meal and staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes, wondering if she did that. Why could she create storms like that? It was more than a little unnerving, and so far from what she had seen, no one had answers. Stephen Jorkins had told her that she had a very powerful form of accidental magic, but as far as she could tell, it was one more thing that made her unusual.

Before she could wonder about the storm any longer, she soon felt arms lifting her out of her chair and she was rushed by Lockhart right out of the Great Hall. As she peeked over Lockhart's shoulder at the staff table, she could see Professor Dumbledore watching them over his half-moon spectacles with a contemplative look on his face.

She quickly hid her face in Lockhart's shoulder, as she didn't like that look at all.

* * *

The next few days seemed to pass by rather quickly, although without all the drama of Lillian dumping a potion over her head. Much to her chagrin, Professor Lockhart was too busy to help her with her toy potions kit. She was allowed the instruction manual, which had been dried off and repaired by Gilderoy, but she was absolutely not allowed to mess with the kit on her own.

With Lockhart so busy, Lillian felt a little lonely, since she was often left to her own devices in her room. Despite his very best efforts, Lockhart still hadn't managed to ask Professor Snape about restoring Lillian's memories, and he was beginning to suspect the man was purposefully avoiding him. If this kept up, he might need more drastic measures.

It was the day before Gilderoy's book signing that Lillian had had enough of being a good girl and sitting in her room with quiet activities. She knew that Lockhart had an important job to do and he still had a lot of preparation, but Lillian didn't like being all by herself. Not to mention the fact that it was _boring._ So it was one day that Lockhart was surrounded by books and papers in the sitting room that Lillian snuck out of their quarters. She had decided that she wanted to see some of the castle herself, but mostly she was sneaking out to go find Professor Snape. She figured if she put on her cutest act, there was no way he could say no to helping her get her memories back.

She glanced at Lockhart as she tip-toed out the front door, but he was too busy to notice her escaping. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

It worked!

From there she walked through Lockhart's office and then the classroom and finally made it out into the hall. She looked around, wondering where to go. She thought back over the last few days and remembered that someone had said that Professor Snape lived in the dungeons. So she wandered off down the hall in search of some stairs. She glanced at some of the portraits as she walked and noticed more than a few of the occupants were gazing down at her in disapproval. She gave a small eep and broke into a run.

It didn't take her very long to find the stairs, and soon she was making her way down them. She thought she was doing pretty well until she reached a landing and the staircase decided it wanted to be somewhere else.

Lillian cried out as the staircase moved all on its own and she stared with wide eyes as she was now at a completely different landing than before. She glanced up at the new unfamiliar stairs at the top and then looked back down.

Well.. dungeons were always down, right?

With a new feeling of trepidation, she carefully climbed down the staircase. As she was walking, she heard a strange sound. It sounded a little like the air being let out of a balloon. As she reached the bottom of the staircase, she saw yet another set of stairs and sighed.

Before she could continue though, a man appeared in midair above her.

Lillian's eyes widened and she shrieked at the sudden appearance, while the man grinned in appreciation. Oh, how he loved scaring the wee little kiddies! And this one was even smaller than the others! What fun!

"Wh.. what a-are you?" Lillian asked in a trembling voice.

In all the commotion of getting ready for the coming school year, Lockhart, as well as the rest of the teachers and even Professor Dumbledore, had forgotten to warn Lillian about the school ghosts, and even the poltergeist, Peeves. The other ghosts all had their own ghostly things to do, and so didn't bother much with the rest of the inhabitants, with there being so few around in the summertime.

Peeves grinned a little malevolently at the little girl.

"Why, I am Peeves wee one! Peeves the poltergeist!"

Lillian tilted her head at that. She knew she had heard that word somewhere before, but for the life of her, she just couldn't remember where. Maybe she had read it in a book? But as she looked at Peeves, her eyes lit up. This was just the person who could help her!

"Mr. Peeves?" she asked hesitantly. "I'm a little lost. I was walking downstairs and the staircase moved around on me and now I don't know where I am. I wanna find the dungeons so I can talk to Professor Snape. Can you help me find them?"

If it had been any other ghost in the castle, they might have gladly helped Lillian find her way. Or even better, taken her to one of the teachers or back to Gilderoy. Since this was Peeves, however, he thought of what fun he could do with this.

There were lots of unused areas of the castle. Perhaps he could lead her there? Oh, if only he had some water balloons! Those were the best. Yes, indeed.

"Ohh, I know just where to go!" Peeves cackled in delight as he zoomed down the staircase.

"W-wait!" Lillian cried out as she hurried after him. "Slow down!"

Lillian was completely out of breath by the time they reached the dungeons (Peeves had taken the long way, carefully avoiding anyone), as Peeves was zooming the entire way and Lillian had to run to keep up with him.

Even then he didn't stop zooming. He led her straight past Severus' quarters and was going to keep going when the cold, drawling voice stopped them both in their tracks.

"And where do you think you're going?" Professor Snape's sneering voice stopped them and they both turned around in surprise.

Recovering quickly, Peeves cackled and bounced around with an air of maliciousness.

"Nothing, Professor Slimy Snape!" Peeves said as he turned himself upside down.

Lillian's eyes widened at the insult and stared at Snape with a deer-in-the-headlights look.

"I see," Professor Snape said coldly, his dark eyes unreadable. "Then you won't mind leaving if you are in fact not doing anything."

Peeves cackled again and with an audible pop, he vanished as he turned invisible. Normally he wouldn't have been so eager to comply, but he recalled that he was in fact in the Bloody Baron's territory, and even Peeves didn't want to cross the Bloody Baron.

"Hey!" Lillian cried out indignantly at being left behind, and her lips formed into a pout that vanished almost as soon as Professor Snape's cold gaze turned on her. She gulped as Professor Snape's hand flashed out and grabbed a hold of her.

"Foolish child," he growled at her. "Following _Peeves._ No doubt he'd have led you to disaster or else abandoned you deep in the dungeons."

Lillian winced at the thought, wondering what she'd do if she had gotten lost. It never occurred to her that Peeves wouldn't lead her to Professor Snape.

"I.. I wanted to see you," she said hesitantly to Professor Snape, as he dragged her inside his quarters.

He let go of her hand as soon as they were inside and the door was closed. He had led her through his office, which had a door that led them straight into his quarters. Lillian saw the familiar fireplace and winced at the thought of traveling by fire back to Gilderoy. She hoped that wasn't how they were going back, but the thought of walking all the way back to Gilderoy's quarters was already making her feet hurt.

Snape lead her to a couch and looked down at her imperiously.

"Sit," he commanded and Lillian instantly climbed up onto the couch and sat with her hands in her lap, her feet dangling off the edge as she looked up at Professor Snape with wide eyes.

He sat in an armchair and studied her silently for a moment with a scowl, wondering what the little brat could possibly want with him.

"Well?" he demanded as the silence stretched on.

Lillian jumped a little at the loud sound and took a shaky breath. Trying to keep her words from tumbling over each other in her haste, she began to explain about her memory loss.

* * *

It was a few hours before Gilderoy noticed Lillian wasn't cooped up in her room looking at the pictures in her books. His only thought was that children certainly had a knack for causing as much trouble as possible.

After completely searching their quarters, he then searched his office and classroom to no avail. He frowned as he realized just how big Hogwarts was and how very small Lillian was. Several parts of the castle weren't even used anymore and it was very possible Lillian could have stumbled upon something dangerous.

With a sigh, he left the classroom and began to search in earnest. An hour later, he was completely frazzled and speaking frantically to Minerva and Flitwick.

"And I can't find her anywhere!" he said dramatically, flinging an arm out to indicate he had looked everywhere, and couldn't find her.

"That is distressing!" Flitwick exclaimed. "She's such a young girl too!"

"Could you help me find her?" Lockhart asked breathlessly, looking from one teacher to the other.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow at this.

Lockhart usually seemed very calm and collected and tried to seem very knowledgeable about everything. This Lockhart was frantic and instead of insisting he could handle everything himself, he was asking for assistance.

This Lockhart seemed.. human.

"Please, I.. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her," Lockhart continued, his voice breaking a little at the end.

McGonagall's expression immediately softened.

"Of course we'll help," she said softly to him.

And so the three of them had organized a little search party. It had been Minerva's idea to alert the portraits, and several of them had told her about the small child that had been seen running after Peeves the poltergeist. Minerva had groaned at that, especially when she had heard that they had gone in the direction of the dungeons.

* * *

Professor Snape sat looking at Lillian contemplatively when she had finished her rather short tale. It was highly unusual for so many memories to vanish with a simple memory charm, and Snape had to hide a smirk when Lillian had declared that she had been told that only an accomplished "Legillians" could help her.

"I might be able to help you," Professor Snape finally admitted, his harsh voice unusually soft. "But I wouldn't be able to restore everything at once. I would have to unlock your memories through several sessions throughout the year."

A huge grin spread across Lillian's face as she bounced in her seat excitedly.

"Can we start now?!"

Professor Snape was about to respond but sighed when he heard the screech of an owl coming from his potions lab at the same time that his fireplace flared green with a floo call.

What now?!

* * *

Author's Note: I admit it, I'm getting really conflicted about Lillian's guardianship. When I first started this fic, I stuck Lillian with Lockhart for the fun of it and now I'm getting kind of _attached._ It'll be interesting to see who eventually winds up with custody of her or if Snape will ever open his mail. I can see an increasingly frustrated Stephen Jorkins sitting in his office writing angry letter after angry letter. For those of you wondering about the Guardians or Jack, they _will_ make an appearance, but it won't be until much later in the fic.

For those of you wondering about the weird child table seat thingy, I actually do remember seeing these at some point in my childhood. It was used at a restaurant in place of a highchair for a toddler. I just thought it would be cute/funny to use one for Lillian. I hope I'm also not the only one that's amused by Dumbledore's use of a spork.

Also, on Gilderoy's school career: I made it up. What I found out when I looked up anything about him months ago was that pretty much the only spell he ever mastered was the memory charm. He only ever applied himself to learning anything that was interesting to him and never tried anything unless he was sure he could do it well. I considerd this to be particularly pathetic, so I'm improvising a little. He is, after all, a fully trained wizard. He should be able to do more than that! I'm trying to keep him in character without having him be too annoying. His classes should be a little better than they are in the books.

The next chapter will feature Gilderoy being away for his book signing (I won't force you to watch it again, but we might peek in on it a little) and some more of Lillian interacting with Snape. Peeves will definitely be popping up more in the fic and there will be some Weasley twin action in there somewhere, but not until later on in the fic. The plan is to have the rest of the break in the next chapter and then hopefully at least the Welcoming Feast. We'll see!

As always, any feedbck/suggestions/whatever is appreciated! Much thanks to the follows/faves as you inspire me to continue on writing, along with my reviewers!


	7. Chapter Seven: Memories

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took longer than normal! I should have another chapter out hopefully in the wee hours of Wednesday night/Thursday morning, but we'll see. I'm definitely in a more Harry Potter mood, so I'll be concentrating on this fic for now.

Reviews:

KijoKuroi: Your review made me giggle. I don't think this will be the last that we'll see of the evil sporks too. :) The whole thing with Lillian's memories turned out to be much more complicated than I had originally anticipated. I was eagerly planning all sorts of shenanigans when I remembered that half of the things I had been planning to show _hadn't actually happened yet._ I forgot that this takes place before 90% of the other fic and _before_ Rise of the Guardians. Hopefully things will turn out alright with the memories. I thought it would be fun to show snippets that would give a rough estimate of when things had taken place in comparison with Child of Spring, but that we haven't actually seen yet.

Crossover Junkie: My very first thought was Sonnets of a Sorcerer, but then I remembered that the book was cursed. :( But that would be very interesting. Snape would be one of the few people who wouldn't completely dismiss anything Lillian does because she's a small child. I have a feeling that Professor Snape will be finding out a lot of secrets in this.

Just a quick little note: As in the chapter in Child of Spring, memories will be in italics. Some thoughts will also be in italics.

 **Chapter Seven: Memories**

Severus Snape didn't have time to decide on which to answer first as the floo flared and the flames turned a bright green as Minerva McGonagall's head appeared in the flames.

He snorted as he heard the hastily stifled shriek of the child that was still sitting on his couch. Said child was staring at McGonagall with wide eyes as she looked at the head that was coming out from the flames. No matter how many times Lockhart had explained to her that when the flames were green they didn't hurt you, it still was hard for her to accept. To her, any fire was bad and would burn you. Nevermind that magic could take all that away.

She silently stared as McGonagall looked at Snape desperately.

"Severus, Lockhart's charge has gone missing! We have to find her immediately!" the usually composed and stern witch looked frantic, and her voice was a little high and panicky. He knew that if the child wasn't sitting on his couch right at this moment that he would be just as concerned. Hogwarts was a wonderful place but could be quite dangerous to the unsuspecting.

He glanced at said child, his look difficult for Lillian to read. She thought he looked a little like when Gilderoy was trying to think of something smart to say, but it was hard to tell.

Snape would have been highly affronted with the comparison, but as he was not trying to look into the child's mind as of yet, he merely glanced at her for a fraction of a second before he turned back to the panicky Minerva. He hid a smirk as he gestured to Lillian, who was still goggling at the fire.

"You wouldn't be referring to this child, would you?" he said calmly while he gestured at Lillian as Minerva gasped in surprise.

"Wh.. what is she doing there?!" McGonagall spluttered in shock.

Lillian opened her mouth to answer as she finally got over her surprise of seeing Minerva's head in the fire, but Snape smoothly stepped in to answer.

"She told me that she was curious to see the rest of the castle, and had grown bored in her quarters." Snape said, looking a little frustrated. He knew Minerva would assume that he was frustrated at the child being there, but really he was frustrated that said child had been able to wander off without anyone being the wiser.

The castle was full of portraits and other magical things, could _none_ of them have alerted someone, especially when the child was seen following after _Peeves?_

"I'll alert Professor Lockhart at once," Minerva said as she gave Lillian a rather sharp look, not noticing as the child's look of surprise at Severus' correct guess turned sheepish. "He has been extremely worried."

Professor Snape ignored the flinch that Minerva's sharp gaze caused in Lillian and nodded at his colleague.

"I'll keep her here for now," Snape assured Minerva as the floo call came to an end.

He stood as he thought of seeing how much damage the ministry owl had done to his potions lab. The annoying birds had become increasingly irate the more he ignored his mail from the ministry. He couldn't help but smirk as he thought of that dunderhead, Stephen Jorkins, becoming more frustrated with each letter sent.

 _Good,_ Professor Snape couldn't help but think vindictively. Didn't the fool realize that he had no living family left?

When he went to wander off, a small voice stopped him.

"Why didn't you tell her you were gonna help me with my memories?" Lillian asked, her emerald eyes gazing at him inquisitively.

Snape avoided looking into the girl's eyes. He couldn't help but be reminded of another pair of emerald eyes he once knew,* and he viciously squashed the memories down. He wasn't about to get sentimental in front of a child.

"I wanted to see how it would go first," Professor Snape told Lillian as he studied her. The child seemed to be quite perceptive.

"Can we do it now?" Lillian asked as a grin grew on her face at the thought of her having all her memories back. She knew that Professor Snape said that he couldn't do it all at once, but it would be so amazing to have _any_ memories back.

Professor Snape sighed at the eager look on her face.

"Let me sort my mail first and then I'll floo that.." he trailed off as he realized who he was talking to, "..that.. Lockhart of yours for permission."

"Oh, he won't mind!" Lillian burst out. "He's been trying to talk to you about it for _ages!_ "

Snape rolled his eyes at this.

"Be that as it may, it is still quite risky to delve into such a young mind. I wouldn't dare to do so without explicit permission from your guardian."

Lillian pouted at that, but she leaned back on the couch with a huff and said no more on the subject. Snape took her silence as acceptance and after sharply telling her to _stay put_ and touch _nothing,_ he retreated into his potions lab.

He was less than impressed with the letter angrily tossed to the floor by the irate bird and even less impressed with the parting white splotch on the floor next to it.

Blasted owls.

A quick cleaning charm took care of that and with a wave of his wand, he banished the letter to the rather impressive pile he was amassing, ignoring the bright red scrawl that flashed _URGENT_ on and off, thanks to a charm.

He looked around the room, but could see nothing out of order and returned in time to see Lockhart's head sticking out of the fire looking a little disheveled and scolding Lillian.

"Young lady, you know better than to sneak off without permission!" Lockhart said sternly to Lillian, who was looking down at her hands which were in her lap.

"I'm sorry," she said softly to him, her lower lip trembling a little. She only wanted to see Professor Snape about her memories. That wasn't bad, right?

Lockhart sighed as he took in the sight of her defeated form. How could he possibly stay mad now? But no, he _had_ to remain firm. All those parenting books he had discreetly picked up said so. Stand firm, stick to consequences.

Right.

He could do this.

Snape watched in amusement as Lockhart continued to scold Lillian about her poor choices and how even though Hogwarts was simply amazing, it was also a dangerous place for a small child and -

Lillian nodded now and then as she continued to watch her hands. By the time Lockhart had finished his little tirade by explaining that she would be grounded and _not_ allowed to wander about, her eyes were full of tears.

"I'm sorry!" she cried out, sounding distressed. "Please don't send me back!"

"Wh-what?" Lockhart stuttered, looking stunned.

Professor Snape hid his surprise at that. Lockhart _never_ stuttered. He was always composed and knew just the right things to say. But as Severus studied the man, he realized that he had never seen Lockhart so discomposed before.

"I'll be good, I won't do nothin'!" Lillian said as her speech regressed a little in her distress. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed at Lockhart desperately. He was the only family that she had, even if he wasn't related to her! She couldn't lose that now.

Lockhart's bewildered expression softened a little.

"My dear, I would _never_ get rid of you! No, I'm afraid you are quite stuck with me. While I prefer you to behave, it would be in poor taste of me to return you as if you were some defective product simply for being a little curious."

Lillian sniffled and wiped her eyes as she looked a little hopeful.

"R-really?" she asked, her voice trembling a little from her tears.

"Really," Gilderoy smiled at her. "Now cheer up! I do hate seeing those tears and that sad face. Whatever would Professor Snape think if he could see you now, hm?"

Professor Snape rolled his eyes but otherwise remained hidden. He backed away and went silently back to his potions lab to give the two some space.

"'M sorry," Lillian mumbled as she wiped the wetness away from her cheeks.

Lockhart smiled.

"That's quite alright," he said lightly to her. "But I do hope you have learned your lesson about wandering off on your own."

He looked satisfied as Lillian nodded, and tried valiantly not to notice how Lillian's cheeks were red from her crying and -

Lockhart shook his head a bit and reminded himself again to not get soft now.

Lillian watched Lockhart for a moment, looking rather miserable before she perked up a bit.

"Mister Snape says he can get my memories back!" Lillian said, as she visibly brightened. She sounded more subdued than normal but far happier than she had been just moments ago.

Lockhart grinned, glad for the subject change since he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand to see little Lillian looking so miserable.

"Excellent! Where is Severus, anyway?" Lockhart inquired as he looked around curiously, as though hoping to see Professor Snape lurking in a corner.

Lillian looked off towards where Professor Snape had gone, but she didn't see him.

"He said he was gonna check his potions lab, I think. Somethin' about owls."

"Hmm. Well, I had been hoping to speak to him, but no matter. My dear, would you mind terribly if you could ask Professor Snape if you could stay with him for the afternoon? I'm really quite busy, and it isn't fair for you. This way Professor Snape can help you with your memories while I work on my lesson plans." Lockhart said, looking a little guilty.

Lillian smiled at that thought since that would give Professor Snape even more time to get her memories back. She nodded happily at Lockhart.

"I'll ask him! I'm sure he'll say yes," she said eagerly.

"Good, good!" Lockhart said as he smiled in return. "I'll see you later this afternoon then."

The floo called ended and the green flames died down and turned back to their normal color. Lillian watched the fireplace flames for a moment, in case they decided to turn green again, but they seemed to want to stay normal for now.

Once she was sure that they weren't going to change again, Lillian climbed down from the couch and ran over to the potions lab. The door was closed, so Lillian reached out and knocked firmly on it.

It was swiftly opened by Professor Snape who raised an eyebrow at Lillian.

"Is there something you need?" he drawled as he eyed the child. She seemed to be in better spirits than the last time he had seen her at any rate.

"Um.. um.." Lillian said as she rocked on her feet nervously. "Gilderoy was wondering if I could stay with you for the afternoon 'cuz he's very busy right now."

Professor Snape started to frown at that, so Lillian continued on in a rush.

"But that's ok, 'cuz then you'd have a lot of time to help me get my memories back! Gilderoy said it was fine!"

Professor Snape couldn't help but notice how eager the child seemed and he could hear the sincerity of her words. He sighed and glanced back at his poor potions lab. He still had so many potions to make!

But..

He looked back down at Lillian, with those emerald eyes* shining up at him hopefully and swallowed as he remembered similar eyes looking at him in such a manner.

 _"Those things I were doing was magic?"_

Lillian's smile faded a little at the closed-off expression Professor Snape had.

"Don't.. don't you want to help me?" she asked him in a small voice.

This shook Professor Snape from his thoughts and he noticed that she took his sentimentality as rejection.

"I did offer earlier, didn't I?" Professor Snape said brusquely.

When he received no response from the child, he continued.

"I think before we begin, we should have some tea," he decided. He had to make certain the child was calm and a cup of tea would help him as well. It wouldn't do to have either of them dwelling on sad thoughts. He didn't want to risk the child seeing anything of his own thoughts anyway. This would give him time to gather himself together again.

He lead the way back to the couch and told the child to stay, and then went off to his small kitchenette and went to make tea. He had enough to make a few things, but like most professors, he mostly ate his meals in the Great Hall, so he had no need for a full kitchen.

Soon there was the sound of a whistling kettle (he preferred to make tea the muggle way, as that was what he had grown up with) and he returned with two steaming cups of tea and a small plate of biscuits.

Lillian smiled as she helped herself to a biscuit and happily munched on it as she sipped her tea. Professor Snape had been expecting her to spill her tea everywhere and had his wand handy for cleaning charms, but the child showed remarkable motor control and didn't spill a drop anywhere.

Once their tea was finished, Professor Snape waved his wand and the tea tray floated itself back into the kitchen, to be taken care of later.

Lillian stared at the floating tray in awe, but soon her attention was redirected back to Professor Snape when he cleared his throat.

"You need to hold very still," he told her as he walked over and knelt in front of her. "It is imperative that we have eye contact at all times. You might feel a pressure on your mind or feel uncomfortable, but these are normal. Understand?"

Lillian nodded, but she had a feeling that Professor Snape was leaving something out, like what would happen if their eye contact was suddenly broken. She shivered a little as she definitely didn't want to find out. When Professor Snape cleared his throat again, she looked embarrassed and hastily looked into his dark eyes.

Professor Snape inhaled sharply as he looked into those emerald eyes but otherwise gave no indication that it was uncomfortable for him. He steeled himself as he stared into their depths and Lillian felt as if Professor Snape were looking into her very soul.

Without a sound, Professor Snape raised his wand and then he silently cast the spell. He had expected to see flashes of memories as he delved into her mind, which would be common for most people, but instead, he found himself in a most peculiar place.

* * *

Professor Snape looked around in consternation as he found his mental self in a flower field of sorts, of all places. There were spring flowers liberally spread around, but instead of being open, the flowers were all closed as if they were asleep.

In the distance, he could see a frozen lake surrounded by some trees. Not far from the lake was a shadowy place that looked dark and foreboding. Even farther beyond that was what he thought could be a house of sorts, but that too was covered in shadow and difficult to see.

Professor Snape knew exactly where he was, of course. He wasn't a master of Legilimency and Occlumency for nothing. But it was surprising to see such a place in a small child.

He shook his head as he continued to look around.

How could a mere _child_ have a mindscape?

Especially one that had no idea what occlumency was? A master at occlumency might create a mindscape to trick or fool a legilimens that was trying to peer inside their mind. They could set up defenses or create an elaborate background that would be difficult to decipher.

Professor Snape stared at all the sleeping flowers and then gazed upward at the sky. It looked like an ordinary spring day, but he knew that could change in an instant. This was the inside of Lillian's mind, after all. The flowers and the weather must mean something to her.

As Snape carefully bent down towards the flowers that surrounded his feet, he hoped to find out why. He gently brushed his finger along the petals of one of the flowers, careful to only put a smidgeon of magic in his touch. He had to be extremely careful, so he wouldn't damage the child's mind.

To his surprise, the flower began to open and he could see flashes of an image appearing above it.

 _This must be one of her memories,_ he surmised.

He looked away from the flickering image and looked around again at all the flowers. There were _hundreds._ How could a child have so many?!

He glanced back down at the flower and knew that while he was only seeing bits and pieces, Lillian would be seeing the memory in its entirety playing out in her mind. He was disappointed to see that the memory looked dim. While he could hear no sound, he hoped that perhaps this memory had some sort of significance for the child.

* * *

 _Lillian could hear a smooth voice speaking, telling her a story. She felt sleepy and it was hard for her to keep her eyes open, no matter how desperately she wanted to look at her surroundings. She could vaguely make out someone sitting on the edge of her bed, holding a book in his hands. The person who was reading to her looked dark, but before she could get a good look at him, her eyes closed completely and all she could hear was his voice softly speaking to her._

 _She had a feeling that she'd heard this story many times before, but to her, it seemed brand new. As she listened, she thought about the glimpses of the room she had seen. It looked small, yet homey. She could see that there had been shelves and there was something odd about them, but before she could really take a look, her eyes had closed._

 _She felt a warmth in her chest as she thought about how familiar the scene was. Gilderoy read her to sleep every night. Then the warmth vanished as she felt a pang of guilt. She wanted to know more about this man, but.._

 _Gilderoy was looking after her now. And she loved being with him, but.._

 _Before she could think too much about it, the smooth voice faded as the Lillian in her memory fell asleep._

* * *

Professor Snape saw that the flower had now fully bloomed and could only assume that the memory had fully played out. He looked at the flowers nearby and felt that if they contained similar memories, then that would be very disappointing for young Lillian.

He looked over at the frozen lake curiously and decided that it couldn't hurt to wander over there to see what the flowers there would be like.

He cautiously made his way over, careful not to damage any flowers or even to step too hard on the grass, in case it would have a negative effect on Lillian's mind.

Once he had made his way over, he knelt down by an icy blue flower and gently brushed his fingers along its petals. He could feel the tingle of magic in his fingertips and was surprised at how cold this particular flower felt.

He watched as the flower began to bloom and flashes of a memory started to play out in a small picture above the flower.

* * *

 _The Lillian in the memory lay back on the grass and stared up at the clouds in the sky. She had her arms behind her head and seemed perfectly content to lay there amongst the spring flowers. The breeze was gentle and very spring-like and Lillian could tell that the Lillian in the memory was thinking about something, but her thoughts made no sense at all._

 _Who was Bunny?_

 _What the heck was his Warren?_

 _And why did she wonder if it would be like this?_

 _She supposed it would all make sense once she had all her memories back, but for now, it was just frustrating._

 _She was immediately brought out of her thoughts when she was hit smack in the face by a glob of snow._

 _She spluttered incoherently and sat up abruptly only to hear someone laughing at her misfortune._

 _"Jaaack!" Memory Lillian whined as she stood up and whirled around._

 _Lillian saw a boy was grinning at her. He didn't look very old as if he were in his late teens or so, but his hair was snow white and his eyes were the bluest Lillian had ever seen. He was wearing a white hoodie with brown pants and no shoes. She noticed that his complexion was very pale, but his lack of footwear didn't seem to be bothering him at all._

 _And for some reason, he was holding a very big.. stick?_

 _Staff, her mind supplied for her._

 _That's right!_

 _That was Jack and he was holding his staff._

 _But who was Jack?_

 _While Lillian thought about this, Memory Lillian continued to have a snowball fight with this Jack. Lillian had no idea where all the snow was coming from, but every time she turned around he seemed to have a snowball in his hand._

 _"No fair!" Memory Lillian cried out as she was pelted with snow._

 _After a while, they called a truce and sat down panting near the frozen lake. Lillian knew it was Jack's lake, but why this was she had no idea. She wished she could get her memories back in the proper order! They weren't going to make any sense like this._

 _Jack reached out and ruffled Memory Lillian's curls with a grin. Memory Lillian grumbled good-naturedly and tried to straighten her hair, as Jack had_ _mussed it a bit._

 _"Pitch helped me tie the ribbon and now it's all messed up and I'm all wet," Memory Lillian groused._

 _Jack's grin grew as he waved his staff._

 _"You could always dry off with a good breeze," he said trying and failing to sound innocent._

 _An icy cold winter breeze hit Memory Lillian and she shrieked as she began to shiver from the cold._

 _"JAAAACK!"_

 _Memory Lillian's yell echoed in Lillian's mind as the memory began to end._

 _That boy was Jack, and she wasn't sure how, but she just knew that the dark man that had read her to sleep in her other memory was Pitch._

 _Jack and Pitch._

 _Jack looked older than her but was still young while she knew that Pitch was much older than Jack. As she thought of them, she knew that they were her family._

 _Pitch must be her dad and Jack was her.. brother?_

 _She thought about it and realized that it felt right._

 _A smile grew on her face as the memory ended completely._

* * *

Professor Snape stood as the flower bloomed completely and the images faded. He couldn't make out much of the memory, but that was alright. He could tell that it didn't seem to be very significant anyway.

 _A lot of the memories were probably like that,_ he thought as he looked around again.

He was thinking of heading to the shadowy places to see what sort of memories could be found over there when he was hit in the back of the head with a snowball.

"Hey, tall dark and creepy!" a voice called out, filled with childish laughter.

Professor Snape whirled around to see a replica of the boy that had been in Lillian's memory. He looked exactly the same: white hair, blue hoodie, staff and holding a snowball.

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes at the boy. It was unusual for any form of protection to show up when it wasn't already present from the beginning, especially in a child's mind.

"What are you?" he asked the boy curtly.

The boy smirked at Professor Snape.

"I'm Jack," he said.

"Jack _who?_ " Professor Snape almost snarled. He was starting to dislike this boy with his cocky smirk that reminded him so much of another boy he knew long ago.

Jack shrugged as he tossed the snowball up and down in his hand.

"I don't know yet," he admitted.

Professor Snape studied the boy as his anger began to fade. He realized that since Lillian had no idea what this boy's last name was yet, that he wouldn't know either. Lillian only had two memories back. This boy's knowledge of things would be extremely limited.

"What do you know of that place?" Professor Snape asked as he gestured behind himself to the shadowy place near the lake.

Jack glanced over in that direction and looked thoughtful for a moment. Snape noticed that even though Jack kept holding the snowball in his hand, it didn't seem to melt and the coldness didn't seem to bother him at all.

"That's Pitch's place," Jack finally answered.

Snape fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"And who is Pitch?" he asked in a long-suffering tone.

Jack shrugged.

"Lillian's dad, I guess," he answered. But he didn't sound entirely sure and Snape knew that the boy was only repeating what Lillian's thoughts on the matter must be. She had probably heard the name and felt a sort of connection to it and guessed that he must be her father.

"Then how does Lillian know you?" Professor Snape asked.

Jack shrugged again and Snape fought the urge to smack some sense into the boy. He certainly seemed to have that infuriating habit that teenagers had of not answering questions properly.

"I'm her brother?" Jack half-asked, half-answered.

"Really," Professor Snape drawled.

He gave Jack one of his scariest glares and then went to stalk off toward the area that Jack had deemed as Pitch's. Before he had made it more than half a dozen paces, however, he was hit in the back of the head by yet another snowball.

Before Snape could even so much as yell, he was then hit with an icy cold wind.

* * *

Professor Snape found his consciousness forced out of Lillian's mind as his mental self was hit with a barrage of snowballs and blasted with an icy cold wind that came from who-knows-where. He shook his head as his eye contact was broken with Lillian and realized that he was breathing a little harder than normal.

Lillian, he saw, looked pale but had a small smile on her face. When he took in her pale complexion, he knew instantly why that Jack hadn't let him continue and he felt like hitting himself for his own stupidity.

The child could clearly only handle getting a few memories back at a time and if he had been allowed to continue on, he might have irreparably harmed her.

No wonder why the child needed mental defenses if she wouldn't even be safe from himself.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, his voice sounding even, even though he was quite worried about her.

Lillian nodded, but then stopped when it made her a little dizzy.

"I feel kind of weird," she admitted. "I wasn't doing anything, but I feel tired."

Professor Snape repressed a snort at that. No wonder the child was tired. She only created a mindscape and once she regained two memories her mental defense practically snowballed him to death to get him to leave.

"There is a potion that could help, but it really shouldn't be taken by anyone younger than nine," he said. "I suggest you rest on the couch and restore your energy more naturally. If you are still feeling tired after that, I will have Madam Pomfrey look at you."

"'Kay," Lillian said with a yawn as she went to lay down on the couch.

Professor Snape pulled a green blanket that had silver snakes embroidered onto it from the back of the couch and gently covered Lillian with it.

"I should warn you," he said as he most certainly did _not_ tuck her in. "Now that we have started the process of regaining your memory, you might start to remember some things on your own. There may be times when something someone says reminds you of something, or perhaps if you see something that looks familiar, it may pull you into a memory. If you find yourself lost in your memories, don't fight it. It will be natural. We'll continue our sessions throughout the year, but I think the process will take much longer than I had initially anticipated."

Lillian smiled at the first part. She already knew that she had a Dad and a brother.

Maybe she'd remember her Mom next.

* * *

Professor Snape had finished not tucking Lillian in (he wasn't getting soft! He most certainly did _not_ tuck people in!), and settled himself down in an armchair nearby to read a potions book that, to the untrained eye, looked very complicated.

Professor Snape held a self-inking quill** in one hand and was making notes in the margins while he read. His notes were extremely small, but he had chosen to use green ink as he remembered the one time he hadn't and it had made his notes very hard to read. He paused, as he wondered if he should have been using invisible ink instead, but then shook his head. As if anyone would break into his quarters to read a potions book.

Becoming absorbed in his task, he failed to notice as the afternoon stretched on to evening, and jumped when his floo suddenly flared to life. He waved his wand at the book and instantly dried the page he had been writing on as he slammed his book shut.

"Severus!" Lockhart beamed at Professor Snape jovially from the glowing green fire.

Professor Snape glanced hastily in the direction of the couch and noticed that Lillian was still very much asleep. He hastily shushed Lockhart with a glare.

"As much as I enjoy you shouting from the fire, you have failed to notice that your charge is _sleeping._ In case you have forgotten, I have delved into her mind, which you know is a very arduous process, for both the caster and the one legilimency is being used on." Professor Snape said, his voice soft and hard.

The smile was wiped off Lockhart's face and he tried to peer anxiously around Snape, so he could see if Lillian was around. As Snape was kneeling in front of the fire now and completely blocking Lockhart's view, this was making things rather difficult for Lockhart.

"Is she alright?" Lockhart asked in an anxious whisper, all traces of good humor gone.

Professor Snape rolled his eyes.

"Of course she is alright," Snape snapped with another glare at Lockhart.

Even Lockhart could hear the _"You dunderhead"_ that Snape had implied with his tone and flushed a little as he looked flustered.

"She is still sleeping from a nap I had her take," Snape explained, feeling somewhat smug at the flustered look on Lockhart's face.

"Oh, well.." Lockhart trailed off awkwardly. "Could you.. ah.. You see, I would _hate_ to wake her up.."

Professor Snape sighed heavily as Lockhart fumblingly made his request. When the floo call ended, Professor Snape stood and winced slightly as his knees creaked from kneeling on a stone hearth for so long. That Lockhart sure could run on at the mouth, especially when that child was involved.

Professor Snape snorted as he took in the sight of the child. As if he didn't know how to take care of one when they were sleeping!

What trouble could she possibly be?

* * *

* I can't remember if I ever metioned this but somewhere in the first few chapters I had mentioned that Lillian's eyes were gray. This isn't true. _Human_ Lillian's eyes are gray, but _Child of Spring_ Lillian's eyes are green. Even though this is AU from Child of Spring, it isn't _that_ AU. Just thought I'd clear that up.

** Self-inking quills aren't canon. I heard them mentioned once in a fic and thought they sounded pretty neat. I would imagine that some wizard or witch somewhere had thought of muggle pens and wondered why there wasn't a wizarding equivalent. They won't be a big thing, but I just needed a way for Snape to write in his book and not balance a pot of ink on his lap. I couldn't really see him using a muggle pen for some reason. Thus, self-inking quill.

Author's Note: I know I said I'd probably get to the next book plot in this chapter, but the chapter ran away from me. I had been thinking that Snape wouldn't delve into Lillian's mind until the day of Lockhart's book signing, but it wound up happening a little early. I hope you aren't disappointed in the totally mundane memories that Lillian had, but I didn't want to give everything away just yet. I also thought it would be quite fitting to have Jack be the guardian of Lillian's mind.

The next chapter will feature what happens during the book signing, and we might take a peek at Lockhart. We know what happens in the book but Lillian is changing Lockhart a little, so we'll see. I know you're all probably wondering when Snape is _finally_ going to open his mail but I have a plan for that! I'm excited to show you all the sorting that Harry and Ron missed, since I'm interested in taking a crack at the Sorting Hat's song.

 **Edit:** Bolded the chapter titles of the last two chapters, since I noticed I did it for the rest and not these two!


	8. Chapter Eight: Signing and Worries

Author's Note: ARGH, I'm so sorry, but I wasn't able to fit the sorting into _this_ chapter either. Without my notes, this fic is almost 8,000 words long and I feel that its pretty long for a chapter. So the sorting will _absolutely_ take place in the next chapter. To make up for it, I gave you a glimpse of the actual Jack Frost toward the end and made this chapter extra long for you. This chapter features a whole lot of Professor Snape, as well as Lockhart's book signing and even a small glimpse of Stephen Jorkins, so I hope that you guys enjoy it. :)

Reviews:

M.v.j.M.: I'm glad you like Professor Snape. It's really hard trying to keep him in character while showing he has a softer side. It's also surprisingly hard trying to keep Lockhart in character too, while not making him be incredibly annoying.

KijoKuroi: I've been thinking about Jack and Pitch a lot while I've been writing the last few chapters and when they would play more of a role in the fic. Your comment made me realize that I really missed Jack, so I gave everyone a glimpse into what he was up to. Jack won't start to play a more significant role until later in the story, but that doesn't mean we still can't see him from time to time. I'm still undecided if Pitch will play a bigger part in this either. I kind of like the idea of Jack and Lillian having all these adventures while Pitch is off plotting and oblivious, so we'll see.

Silversun XD: Awesome review! :) Glad you're enjoying yourself.

Crossover Junkie: I can imagine that poor Snape would be so lost in Harry Dresden's world. Especially with potions! Although it _would_ be highly amusing to see Harry Dresden try to make a potion in Snape's world. And yes, Pitch and Snape do seem somewhat similar to me, except with Snape being more snarky about everything. I'm sure that won't be Lillian's last Tea Time with Snape, so she'll probably be strongly reminded of Pitch. I also can't wait until the Weasley twins turn up, since I can just imagine all the hijinks they'll get into with Lillian.

 **Disclaimer:** I borrowed a few lines from _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,_ so I feel I have to reiterate that I _absolutely_ don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Anything you don't recognize, however, belongs to me!

 **Chapter Eight: Signing and Worries**

While Lillian was sleeping, stuck all by himself in a flower field in her mind was a very bored Jack. He knew he had a last name, but for the life of him, he just couldn't seem to remember what it was.

He also knew that Lillian must have a last name as well, but he didn't know that either. He looked around at all the sleeping flowers thoughtfully and then looked over at Pitch's dark domain near the lake.

He had stopped that creepy guy from going there, but only because the place was so undefined yet. Lillian couldn't even remember what the outside of it was supposed to look like. He knew that she had to recover other memories first before that place could be explored. He wasn't certain how he knew, but he just _knew._

He also knew that Lillian had grown exhausted from everything that had happened, and that had been another reason that he had stopped the creepy guy. Tall, Dark and Oblivious hadn't seemed to realize how dangerously tired Lillian had been and Jack knew that he had to do whatever he could to get the guy to leave.

Jack couldn't help but smirk as he remembered all the snowballs he had chucked at the guy's face. His abnormally large nose made the perfect target.

He chuckled as he made his way back to the middle of the flower field and stopped by the lone flower that was open. He tilted his head as he examined the pink tulip that was surrounded by other pink tulips.

It looked so lonesome all by itself, being the only flower nearby in full bloom. He bit his lip as he looked down at it thoughtfully.

Would it hurt her if he helped her open a few more?

He looked up at the sky, which had turned dark and starry when Lillian had fallen asleep. The full moon shone down brightly at him and he looked at it for a moment, wondering why it felt important to him somehow. When nothing had happened after he had stared at it for a full minute, he looked back down at the flowers.

 _One more,_ he decided.

One more couldn't hurt.

He bent down and gently brushed his fingers against the flower, with his eyes widening at the frost that formed along the petals.

Oh no, oh no..!

He damaged..!

But to his great relief, the flower began to bloom.

* * *

 _Lillian sat at a table in the library with a small book open in front of her. She was reading the pocket-sized edition of_ The Hobbit _, which she thought was appropriate, considering how small hobbits were. She was having fun reading all about Bilbo's adventures and was startled when a voice announced that the library would be closing soon. With a sigh, Lillian reluctantly closed the book and put it away before leaving._

 _As she made her way home, she had her backpack slung over her shoulder. She had worked a little on her homework before she had given up on it and started reading_ The Hobbit _. She looked a little guilty as she stared up at the remnants of the setting sun, the last of the orange fading away as it went to black._

 _She wished Jack were around, but sometimes he still got too hot and had to leave for awhile to cool off. With a sigh, she quickly found her way into the forest and found Jack's lake, which was still frozen, even though it was past September. She stared at it for a moment as the stars started to come out, but then made her way to a darker part of the forest._

 _As she approached the dilapidated child's bedframe and carefully climbed into the hole underneath, she wondered for the millionth time why Pitch had put that there in the first place. As she dropped down to the ground below, she suddenly found herself caught in a pair of arms and stared up at the gray face of Pitch, his golden-yellowish eyes narrowed at her._

 _"There you are, young lady!" he said sternly to her. "What are you doing out so late?"_

 _"Homework?" Lillian replied, her emerald eyes widening innocently, causing Pitch to roll his eyes._

 _"Don't try that on me, it doesn't work anymore," he informed her as he carried her deeper inside the lair._

 _He soon sat her down at the rock table and they quickly ate dinner together, before Pitch took Lillian off to her room and put her to bed with a story._

 _Lillian smiled sleepily as her eyes closed, relishing in the fact that Pitch still did this sometimes._

* * *

Lillian wound up sleeping until the next morning and sat up sleepily in confusion. Her dress had been transfigured into a Slytherin green nightgown and her curls were a little wild from sleep. She was still on the couch out in Professor Snape's sitting room, having slept through the floo call from Professor Snape and Lockhart.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily as she thought of the strange dream she had had. Was it really a dream? Or was it a memory?

It seemed so real..

She slumped back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling as she remembered she had been reading a book, _The Hobbit_. She could remember other times she had read books and similar memories began to surface.

A smile played on her face as she recalled one particular instance where she had fallen asleep while reading at the table at Pitch's, and then woken up in bed with her book neatly put away in her bookshelf.

Then the smile faded when she recalled the oddity that was Pitch's place. Had she been sitting at a table _made of rock?  
_

She rubbed her head as she remembered climbing down into Pitch's underneath the child's bedframe and dropping down the hole. She recalled that at the time she had been trying to be sneaky and not get caught coming back late, only to drop right into Pitch's arms.

Thinking about all the strangeness in that made her head hurt, so she concentrated instead on Pitch himself. The moonlight had been weakly shining down into the hole and illuminated his face, which looked oddly ashen to her as if he had hardly seen the sun. His hair had been an inky black, and his eyes were the most unusual shade she had ever seen.

Was it even possible to have golden eyes?

She lay for a moment more pondering this, before she realized that she had spent the whole rest of the day at Professor Snape's and all night. She bit her lip as she sat up again and looked around.

Where was Gilderoy?

Did he even miss her?

Or was he still angry with her for running off?

She felt a pang in her chest that didn't feel entirely unfamiliar to her, and she didn't like it. She wanted to run and find Gilderoy, but what if he was too busy for her? That sharp pang she had felt, grew, and she realized suddenly that it was loneliness.

She missed Gilderoy, and she missed Pitch and Jack. Her face fell again as she wondered where Pitch and Jack were. Were they looking for her? She pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her head in her knees.

What was she going to do without them? And would they take her away from Gilderoy forever when they found her?

She sniffled as the distraught feelings inside her grew. She wasn't sure what she would feel when Pitch and Jack found her.

She wanted to go home..

..But did she?

* * *

It was a long while before Lillian had gathered herself back together and had gone looking for Professor Snape. Unfortunately for him, it was still very early in the morning and he was not amused by being woken up first by the monitoring spell he had set up on the child, and then as he was drifting back to sleep, by the child herself.

"Mister Snape?" Lillian asked the lump in the bed hesitantly.

The room was quite dark, and Lillian remembered suddenly when she had first come to Pitch's and had been frightened of the dark. Her eyes widened a little as she imagined she saw a monster lurking in the corner of the room.

It had a hulking and unnatural shape to it, and Lillian was sure it would have fangs that would love to eat little girls and Mister Snapes too.

"Professor," Professor Snape mumbled as he kept his eyes closed. "Call me 'Professor Snape.'"

Lillian hovered in the doorway, eyeing the monster in the corner as she heard Professor Snape speak.

"'Kay," Lillian said softly. "Can.. can I go back to Gilderoy now? Please?"

Professor Snape groaned in response. He hadn't gotten to sleep until late, as he had first sat up as he watched the child, to make sure she suffered no ill effects from recovering those two memories and then as he had brewed some of the potions he had been behind on for the hospital wing.

"Can't you wait until breakfast?" Professor Snape muttered with his eyes still closed. He felt like he had gotten absolutely no sleep.

Lillian looked down at her feet at that, as she forgot about the monster lurking in the corner of the room.

"Sorry," she whispered and Professor Snape heard her small feet shuffle away and back down the hall.

He entertained the thought of going back to sleep but found that he couldn't drift off again as an uncomfortable feeling grew within himself.

 _Stop it,_ he commanded himself silently. _You are not feeling guilty.  
_

He sighed as he lay there in the dark and told himself he was only getting up because he realized he was hungry, not because he was concerned for the child or anything.

No.

Absolutely not.

He lit the lamps in his room with a wave of his hand and would have been amused if he had known that the unnatural shape in the corner that had Lillian so frightened was actually a chair that he had carelessly tossed his robe onto the night before.

He hurriedly dressed in his usual black attire and found a morose Lillian curled up in a corner of the couch, staring sadly at the dying embers of the fire.

Professor Snape frowned and brandished his wand, causing the flames to suddenly burst into life. A startled gasp left Lillian as she stared at the flames and then whirled on the couch to see Professor Snape looking at her with his dark eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching as though he were repressing a smile.

"I thought you were sleeping," Lillian asked as she sleepily rubbed an eye, her curls still wild from her own sleep.

"I was until a small child came in to pester me," Professor Snape said mildly, but Lillian flinched all the same and looked down guiltily.

"Sorry," she said again, and it caused Snape's somewhat amused look to darken.

"Nevermind," he said a little irritably. "Are you hungry?"

Lillian blushed as her stomach gave a huge rumble, having missed a few meals due to her sleeping.

"I'll take that as a yes," Professor Snape said dryly. "We'll have to eat it here since the Great Hall isn't serving breakfast yet."

Lillian nodded as Professor Snape was eyeing her thoughtfully. He walked over to the couch and before she could ask what he was up to, he cast several spells at her in succession.

Lillian gave a small shriek as she felt the unusual feeling of magic washing over her, causing her bracelet to glow faintly from the power. Lillian hadn't noticed as she was busy gaping down at herself, but Professor Snape certainly did.

He eyed the bracelet more carefully as he looked at it.

What sort of object was it? Was it enchanted?

Lillian, meanwhile, was looking at her clothes which had suddenly changed from a nightgown to a Slytherin green dress. She patted her hair and was surprised that it was suddenly free of tangles and was tied back with a bow. She couldn't see it, but she had a feeling that it matched her dress.

Her outfit was nearly complete until she realized she had bare feet still and giggled as she wiggled her toes.

"You forgot something," she said to Professor Snape in a childish sing-song voice that snapped him suddenly out of his thoughts.

Professor Snape rolled his eyes.

"Do forgive me for thinking you capable of fetching your own shoes," he said sarcastically to her, "I won't make that mistake again."

Lillian's amused smile faded and she started to look a little insulted, but Professor Snape had already brandished his wand again and her shoes went sailing from where they had been sitting on the floor by the couch to rest in front of her, now a pretty silver color to match the bow in her hair, which she had wrongly assumed was green to match her dress.

Lillian slipped them on and followed Professor Snape to his table, where a piping hot breakfast lay, as though summoned there by thoughts of breakfast.

Unknown to her, Professor Snape had already called a house elf for breakfast before entering the sitting room, having correctly guessed that Lillian would be hungry.

Lillian stared at the mound of scrambled eggs and toast as though it had appeared right in front of her face. She didn't think she would ever get used to magic like that. She hurriedly climbed into a chair before Professor Snape thought of attaching a horrible chair to the table like she had when she sat in the Great Hall. This table wasn't nearly as tall as the one in the Great Hall, so she didn't have much trouble reaching her food.

She went to reach for her fork when she realized in disgust that instead of the metal she had been expecting, she felt plastic. She looked down and realized with dread that it was another one of those dreadful _sporks._

"Professor Dumbledore seems to have informed the house elves about them," Professor Snape said with a twitch of his lips. "I assure you I did not ask for one."

Lillian scowled at the utensil as though it personally offended her, which in a way, it did, as she knew that she was perfectly old enough and capable to handle a fork all on her own.

"I had a normal fork when I was at Gilderoy's!" Lillian said in an outraged tone. "And when I was with Mister Jorkins!"

Snape's eyebrow rose at that.

 _Stephen Jorkins?  
_

That blundering fool at the ministry that kept trying to contact him?

Interesting..

He started to eat his breakfast and pretended to not notice how Lillian was trying to clumsily eat with the spork. He saw that Lillian could indeed not do much to harm herself with it, but he noticed that it didn't do much else, either. It was a rather useless invention, not quite capable of doing its forkly duties, and being rather small for a spoon.

Lillian ate some scrambled eggs with the awful utensil and grumbled a little when a lot of the eggs wound up jumping ship before she could get them into her mouth. Eventually, she gave up and took a long drink from her cup, only to make a face afterward.

"I don't like pumpkin juice very much," she told Professor Snape grumpily, now in a bad mood from the spork.

"I'll keep that in mind for the future," Professor Snape said as he gave her a look. If this bad mood persisted, he could see a tantrum coming soon and he wasn't about to deal with that.

Lillian pouted at him not magicking the pumpkin juice away but didn't comment on it as she went back to her breakfast. It took her a surprisingly long time to eat it, and she only ate about half of her scrambled eggs.

She made up for it by eating extra toast and bacon, but it wasn't quite the same. After she was finished, she looked up at Professor Snape expectantly, but he was standing up from the table and didn't seem to notice.

Lillian quickly got up too and Professor Snape soon found his way blocked by an eager child.

"I want to go back to Gilderoy's," Lillian said as she looked up at him earnestly.

Professor Snape frowned down at her, his patience wearing thin.

"I don't know what that.." he paused and took a deep breath, "..that.. Lockhart of yours has been teaching you, but that is _not_ how children should ask for something."

" _Please,_ " Lillian amended but ruined it with a stamp of her foot.

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow at this. He glanced over at a clock on the mantle of his fireplace in the nearby sitting room and gave a snort.

"While I am not adverse to having you out of my hair, it is still far too early for you to be tromping about the castle."

Lillian's frown deepened at that.

"I want to go back," she said, her voice soft but determined.

"If you would open your ears," Professor Snape said sternly, "I did not say you couldn't go back, I said you _shouldn't_ go back this _early._ Go sit on the couch and stay put. Time will pass quickly enough and then you can leave."

Lillian crossed her arms but gave a squeak when Professor Snape scooped her up and in a few long strides had carried her to the couch in the sitting room and unceremoniously deposited her down onto it.

She could have sworn that Professor Snape had muttered "Cheeky brat" while he did so, but she wasn't sure. She glared at his back anyway, as he wandered off down the hall to go do whatever it is adults did in the early morning.

Professor Snape had wandered into his potions lab, thinking that a bit of brewing would help calm him. The child hadn't seemed half bad yesterday. What had gotten into her today?

He frowned as he chopped, sliced and diced his potions ingredients, after setting a cauldron to boil. He slowly began to add the ingredients and soon he was stirring the cauldron carefully, his mind whirring while he automatically made the calming draught.

Lillian pouted on the couch as she stared at the fire angrily. She only wanted to get back to Gilderoy just to make sure that he still wanted her around. She hadn't liked the lonely feeling she had felt earlier and she didn't like the thoughts it caused her when she thought about it.

Gilderoy wanted her.

Pitch was her dad, so he wanted her too.

Her face fell as doubt started to creep in. She remembered suddenly (although rather vaguely) a time when she had thought of Pitch and had been very sad. She remembered a time when she had tried telling herself that everything was _fine,_ even though everything was not fine.

She remembered what she had been feeling at the time, as her lip trembled.

She had been feeling unloved.

Lillian shook her head and suddenly jumped off the couch as she hurried over to Professor Snape's bookcase to distract herself.

Yesterday she could remember wanting to give anything to remember _anything_ at all, but today the memories seemed to be coming far too fast. As she perused the bookshelves a little frantically for anything to distract herself from her current thoughts, in a far-off corner of her mind, a very guilty looking Jack sat surrounded by some flowers that had bloomed and some that had only bloomed halfway, as Lillian had only remembered bits and pieces of certain memories.

"Oops," Jack said as he surveyed the damage he had done rather sheepishly.

* * *

Professor Snape left his potions lab an hour later with a fresh vial of calming draught concealed in his pocket, just in case the brat was still feeling upset. Of course, young children were bound to have mood swings now and again, but did she _really_ have to stamp her foot at him in such a defiant manner?

Snape frowned as he thought of it, as he made his way to the sitting room. What he saw when he arrived there amused him so much, he soon forgot that he had been irritated.

The child was sitting on the couch with a book almost as big as she was open in her lap and she seemed to be staring down at the page in fascination.

"What do you have there?" he asked her as he strode over and sat down in the armchair nearby.

"Huh?" Lillian asked belatedly as she tore her gaze away from the page and looked over, surprised to see Professor Snape there.

"What are you looking at?" Professor Snape asked as he looked very amused.

"Umm.." Lillian paused as she flipped the book back to look at the cover. " _Potion Cause and Effect: Ingredients and their Importance._ "

"Interesting," Professor Snape said, curious as to how she managed to grab a book that was certainly higher up on the shelves than she was tall. "Are you learning anything from it?"

The question had been asked rather flippantly, but Lillian answered it as if it had been a question that Professor Snape expected an answer to.

"Yes," Lillian said with a bright smile, "I wanted to see if I could combine the potions in my toy potion kit to make color changing bubbles, but I needed to see if any of the ingredients would have an adverse reaction to each other."

Professor Snape's mouth dropped open at that declaration, but Lillian continued on as if she hadn't noticed, which she hadn't.

"I also wanted to see if it would matter how the ingredients are sliced, diced, chopped or crushed and if it would affect the strength of the potion."

After stating that, Lillian flipped back to the page she had been reading as Professor Snape stared at the child in utter disbelief.

 _What!?_

* * *

Later that day found Lillian in the Great Hall for lunch, happily sitting next to Gilderoy who was checking his pocket watch and looking a little flustered.

Lillian hadn't realized why Gilderoy was so flustered or even that he was flustered. She was just happy that Gilderoy wasn't mad at her anymore and that he definitely still wanted her around. She had been rather clingy all day to him and that made Gilderoy feel more than a little guilty that he would have to be leaving her shortly to go sign autographs for the book signing of his autobiography.

It was the first time that doing so made Gilderoy feel a little... strange. Before Lillian came along, he thought that there was nothing in the world that was more important than being famous, and he felt uncomfortable as he thought of all the things he did in the name of obtaining his fame, especially when he thought of the look Lillian would have if she ever found out.

 _No matter,_ Gilderoy consoled himself. _You're a professor now.  
_

He discreetly checked his pocket watch again and glanced down the staff table. He had asked Professor McGonagall if she could watch Lillian, but the Professor had shaken her head regretfully and said that she was too busy preparing for her lessons to do so. Flitwick had stated much the same. Professor Snape was sitting at the table and seemed oblivious to the anxious glances Lockhart was casting them.

Lockhart had known that it was still a bit early for the other teachers to arrive, but in the excitement in everything that had happened the last few days it had quite slipped his mind that today was the book signing he had scheduled at Flourish and Blotts for his autobiography.

In his desperation, he thought vaguely of asking the Headmaster if he would mind watching Lillian for a few hours, but he knew that would make him feel like a failure as a guardian. Since there were no other professors present at the moment, that would mean intruding on Severus' space yet again.

As though his attention had been attracted by Lockhart's thoughts, Snape sent a swift, piercing look in Lockhart's direction and their eyes connected for a brief moment.

Lockhart sent Professor Snape a hesitant yet hopeful smile, and Snape looked away with a soft snort as he ignored Minerva's curious glance. He could tell what that hopeful look meant and he would certainly _not_ be taking the brat off his hands again.

Did he have _babysitter_ stamped on his forehead?

* * *

At a little before twelve-thirty, Professor Snape looked down at the child that was once again invading his quarters. How very.. _Slytherin_ it had been of Lockhart to ask in front of everyone. Even though he had tried to refuse, Dumbledore had interrupted his protests with his blasted twinkling eyes and reminded him that it would only be for a few hours and _surely_ he wouldn't mind?

He most surely did mind! But everyone had been looking (or in Minerva's case, trying not to smile at his predicament) at him and he could hardly refuse. Lillian, whom he had expected to throw a huge tantrum with the way she had been acting that morning had actually _cheered_ and asked Lockhart excitedly if she could bring her toy potions kit.

Lockhart looked incredibly relieved to have found someone to watch Lillian and had agreed at once, forgetting that Lillian was banned from using it until the weekend.

So that was how Lillian wound up in Professor Snape's quarters once again, clutching a wooden box filled with trinkets and toys to keep her amused, as well as her toy potions kit. She also had a stuffed bear clutched in her arms as well, wearing a wintery blue cloak.

Lillian grinned up at Professor Snape, her eyes shining happily at him.

"Can we make potions now?" Lillian asked him excitedly. "I wanna make color changing bubbles!"

Professor Snape rolled his eyes at her declaration, but he couldn't help but think of someone else with emerald eyes who excelled at making potions.

"Why anyone would want to make such a useless potion is beyond me," Professor Snape grumbled.

Lillian tilted her head at him and blinked in surprise.

"Don't you make potions just for fun?" she asked him curiously.

Professor Snape gave her a look.

"I _am_ a Potions Master," he said a little frostily to her.

Lillian furrowed her brow at him as she took this in.

"So.. you don't make potions just for fun?" she asked, sounding confused.

Professor Snape sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He barely had the child in his quarters for five minutes and he was already getting a headache.

Just perfect.

"I make potions that serve a purpose," he said to her as he took a deep breath. "A _useful_ purpose," he added on as he saw her about to open her mouth to retaliate.

Lillian shut her mouth a little sheepishly.

"Colorful bubbles serve a purpose!" she said to him. "They make people happy."

"Lovely," Professor Snape drawled with another eye roll. "You can market them as a cheering charm in a bottle."

Lillian didn't know what a cheering charm was, but she giggled all the same. She set her teddy bear down on the couch and carefully set her wooden box down on an end table. She opened it up and after rummaging around inside of it for a moment and extracted her potions kit.

"Here it is!" Lillian said brightly to Professor Snape as she pulled it out.

Professor Snape didn't look overly enthusiastic at this, but he brightened a little as he realized he could use this as an opportunity to catch up on some potions. It wouldn't be too long now until the start of the school year after all.

"Very well," he said resignedly. "Follow me."

* * *

Gilderoy Lockhart sat at a table in Flourish and Blotts surrounded by a stack of his books as well as several portraits of himself all winking and flashing his dazzling smile. The man himself sat smiling as well as he signed several copies of _Magical Me_ for his many adoring fans.

He noticed that several of the people in the line waiting to get an autograph were students and he couldn't help but smile as he realized what a surprise they were all in for when he announced just who their next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was going to be.

What an announcement that would be!

While he was busy chatting away with his fans and smiling at the overly attentive witches who were fanning themselves while blushing as they admired his dazzling smile, he failed to notice the arrival of several redheads and a small boy with black hair that stuck up every which way.

Harry Potter nervously flattened his hair as he noticed a photographer pushing his way past Ron roughly as he tried to get a good angle for a shot.

"Out of the way you," the photographer rudely snarled, "this is for the _Daily Prophet._ "

"Big deal," Ron exclaimed as he rubbed his toe. The photographer had stepped on his foot.

Even though the shop was incredibly crowded and noisy, Ron's exclamation had drawn Lockhart's gaze in their direction.

As Lockhart looked at the redhead who looked very grumpy, he couldn't help but notice the small dark-haired boy next to him, with round glasses and -

Lockhart's mouth dropped open as he realized he was looking at none other than the savior of the entire wizarding world!

He quickly schooled his shocked expression into another dazzling grin as he stood up.

"This can't be Harry Potter!" he exclaimed quite loudly.

Harry shifted uncomfortably as the shop grew quite silent and everyone's gazes were drawn to him. He nervously tried to flatten his hair again over his scar, but soon found himself shoved by the crowd right up to Lockhart.

Harry tripped over his feet from the shove, but Lockhart's hand shot out to grip Harry's shoulder to steady him.

The blue eyes that met green looked concerned for a moment, especially when he took in Harry's attire.

Lockhart hadn't known what he had expected Harry Potter to look like, but he certainly hadn't expected him to look so.. _scruffy._

Perhaps it was from spending time with Lillian, but Lockhart was looking at young Harry with a more critical eye than anyone else had seemed to lately. The clothes Harry was wearing were far too big for himself, even though his pants were held on tightly with a belt and the sleeves of the shirt he was wearing were rolled back several times.

They looked worn and faded and Lockhart couldn't understand why _the_ Harry Potter was dressed like that.*

The concerned look only lasted for a second, however, and in the next moment Lockhart had turned Harry to face the crowd and flashed yet another dazzling smile as a bright flash of the old-fashioned camera went off as their picture was taken.

Lockhart couldn't help but notice the less than enthusiastic look on Harry's face and whispered to him softly.

"Bright smile Harry," Lockhart said paternally to him, "this is going to be on the front page of the Prophet."

Harry's face turned even more red than it had been (if that was possible), but he mustered up some sort of smile as another flash went off. Ron, he noticed, was grinning at his misfortune and trying very hard not to laugh.

Harry fixed an uncomfortable smile on his face as he was unable to glare at Ron at the moment or do much of anything, as Lockhart had yet to remove his hand from his shoulder.

Lockhart gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze as he noticed Harry's effort and removed his hand. Harry instantly tried to sidle away from all the attention, but Lockhart's next words froze him to the spot in astonishment.

"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts, no doubt to purchase my autobiography, which I am now presenting to him along with my entire works, free of charge," Lockhart said as he happily shoved a stack of books into Harry's arms, "he didn't dream that I would be making my most important announcement yet!"

Harry couldn't help but wonder what this important announcement would be, but he staggered a little from under the weight of all the books. His uncomfortable smile faded as he concentrated on holding all those books in his arms.

He hadn't gone to Flourish and Blotts to purchase any autobiography, Harry thought irritably to himself. He had gone there to purchase his school books!

"While he was picking up his copy of _Magical Me_ , he didn't realize that he would also be getting the real me!" Lockhart announced grandly as he grinned his toothy grin. "Yes, I am going to be teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

While everyone exclaimed over this announcement and began chatting excitedly amongst themselves, Harry took the opportunity to sidle back over to the Weasley's.

"You could have fried an egg on your face," Ron grinned at Harry.

"Shut up," Harry grumbled as he dumped his books into Ginny's cauldron. "Here," he mumbled to her, "you can have these. I'll buy my own."

While the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy sounded out from behind Harry, Lockhart continued grinning at everyone. His eye sought out Harry and his grin faded slightly as he saw Harry giving away the books he had just received as though they meant nothing to him.

A sudden flash of uncertainty hit Lockhart as he noticed the exchange. Instead of looking pleased and proud, Harry looked extraordinarily embarrassed as though he didn't like all the attention.

Nonsense!

Harry Potter not like attention?

That was absurd.. right?

Lockhart realized his smile was looking somewhat less than dazzling and quickly grinned again, showing off all his perfect teeth.

He was having a hard time keeping up his grin, however, when a brawl broke out right in the middle of the shop.

He heard shouts of "Get him dad!" and "No, Arthur!" and then finally, "Break it up, gents! Break it up!"

There had been screams and shouts and for a moment it looked as if a riot was going to break out. Lockhart had been getting quite flustered with all the commotion going on and had been frantically trying to think of how he could salvage this so that it wouldn't look like negative press on himself.

"You know, you could always add the fight at the end of the article," Lockhart said helpfully to the Daily Prophet photographer, while the Weasley twins snorted as they overhead him. He had been hoping that by having the fight mentioned at the very end of the article, that it wouldn't actually take over the entire article itself.

He, thankfully, hadn't heard the twins in all the commotion and had cheerfully offered to help the bookshop owner clean up all the mess when the stampeding crowd had thinned out. While he was busy helping to sort the mess out, he failed to notice as Harry snuck up to the shop front and discreetly paid for his own set of Lockhart books.**

Harry glanced at Lockhart, who was wearing forget-me-not blue robes, after he had paid for his own books, and saw Lockhart cheerfully waving a wand around with a happy smile on his face. Harry couldn't help but frown a little as he noticed that sometimes the cheery smile would dim as though Lockhart were unhappy, but then the smile would brighten whenever someone looked in his direction.

When Lockhart's bright blue eyes flashed in his direction, as though sensing his gaze, Harry ducked his head and hurried out of the store after the Weasley's.

Lockhart watched Harry disappear back into the crowd with a brand new stack of books and couldn't help but be a little put out at having his generous gift rebuffed like that. He also noticed that Harry failed to get any supplemental texts to help with the school year.

Just because you weren't required to get certain books, didn't mean you couldn't get any that you thought might help you, or that you thought were interesting.

 _He certainly isn't a Ravenclaw,_ Lockhart thought to himself as he waved his wand at some books, watching as they flew back onto their shelves.

Perhaps he would pick up a few books for young Harry himself. He could use someone to help him out, Lockhart decided.

* * *

While Lockhart was having an eventful time at his book signing, Lillian was in Professor Snape's classroom, standing on a small stool as she stood at one of the desks in the front, the better for Snape to see her with.

He, himself, was standing at the very front of the classroom and was brewing his own potion on a table that he had conjured from thin air.

Lillian had been quite impressed, especially since the table came complete with its own cauldron, but she hadn't realized that Snape had merely summoned it from his potions lab. He had at first thought of having them both brew in his lab, but he remembered at the last moment that he had some rather dangerous ingredients in there and he didn't want any little fingers to go exploring.

So he had set them up in his classroom and set Lillian to brewing her own potion from the toy kit. He was secretly very impressed with her reading and comprehension skills and couldn't understand why Lockhart had failed to mention them to anyone. Snape had informed Lillian that she first should brew the bubble making potion before she began to tamper around with it, as she had to have a thorough understanding of how it was made before she changed it.

Lillian had pouted a little but reluctantly agreed that he was right and so now she set about making that instead. It was incredibly easy to make as it only required a few ingredients that had to be sliced and the potion only had to be stirred in one direction before it was required to simmer. Lillian had carefully aimed her toy wand at the little cauldron most carefully, Snape had noticed with amusement, and had pronounced the spell to light her cauldron correctly.

He wondered at the child's seeming maturity. Sometimes she seemed to be incredibly childish, but at other times she seemed to be beyond her years.

It was quite the puzzle, he decided as he stirred his own potion. He couldn't help but wonder what other mysteries this year would bring along with it, as he thought of Dumbledore telling him about the wards going off as soon as Lockhart had arrived at the castle.

With a sigh, he realized it wouldn't be too long before all the dunderheaded children came back to the castle.

He was already sick of this school year and it hadn't even started!

* * *

Meanwhile, an ocean away in another country, Jack Frost sat in a tree by his lake as he avoided Jasper*** and the other Fall Sprites. Jasper didn't usually spend much time in Burgess but Jack remembered all the times Jasper and August had shouted at him for hanging around out of season and he thought he couldn't be too careful.

A worried frown marred his lips as he looked up at the leaves, which were now a brilliant shade of red. Jack wasn't sure when Jasper had painted his leaves since it had only just become Fall a few days ago, but he had left one day and returned the next to see the leaves had turned from their bright green to a lovely red.

Jack was grateful for the more crisp temperatures of Fall to take over since if it were any earlier in the year, he wouldn't have been able to stay by his lake for long. He usually only managed a quick visit to Lillian now and again, and also to check on his lake and make sure it stayed frozen.

But this year when he had returned near the end of Summer, he had not seen Lillian anywhere. Usually, she would be hanging around outside or by his favorite tree near his lake, but not this time. Jack had searched all of Burgess and not seen one trace of Lillian.

He had even gone down into Pitch's lair and asked Pitch where she was, but a distracted Pitch had only said vaguely that Lillian was out. When Jack had tried to tell Pitch that he hadn't seen Lillian in several days, Pitch hadn't even been listening and had actually _shouted_ at Jack for him to go away and go bother someone else for a change!

Jack had been immensely hurt by this since he thought that he and Pitch had an understanding. They celebrated all the important holidays together, after all, and Jack had started to see Pitch as his family.****

Jack's frown deepened as he remembered the incident. He supposed that Pitch didn't see him the same way after all.

Jack sat up as his grip tightened on his staff. How could Pitch not be worried about Lillian?! She'd been gone all month! What kind of parent didn't notice that their kid was missing?!

But Jack had remembered how sad and quiet his friend had become over the years and how Pitch had become more and more distant.

Now Pitch didn't even realize that Lillian was gone.

Jack sighed as his frustration grew. He knew how unhappy Lillian had been lately.

Did she run away?

He shook his head as his look grew determined.

It didn't matter if she had run away, he decided.

He would find her.

* * *

Lockhart climbed out of the fireplace in his quarters much later with a small stack of books and a few clothes. He had recalled how worn Harry's clothes had been and had remembered how bewildered he was that Harry hadn't purchased new clothes himself and had decided that either this was some strange fashion he hadn't heard about, or perhaps that Harry was embarrassed to admit that he needed new clothes.

He had decided on the latter, and after the book signing was all done and he had purchased some supplemental texts for Harry himself, he had gone off to Madam Malkin's and discreetly made a few purchases. Madam Malkin had raised an eyebrow when Lockhart requested a few outfits in Harry Potter's precise size, but she was a woman of discretion and hadn't asked why Lockhart of all people wanted them.

So now Lockhart had some purchases to put away as he shook the soot off his once sparkling clean robes. He was glad that Lillian was at Professor Snape's, so she wouldn't become alarmed at his sudden arrival.

He hurried off to his bedroom and stowed away his purchases as he tried to think of a way to discreetly give them to Harry without embarrassing him too much. He remembered how red Harry had been after he, Lockhart, had singled the poor boy out and couldn't help but feel that perhaps he had gone about things the wrong way.

He sighed as he shook his head. He had only wanted to help the poor boy out, but instead, he wound up accidentally humiliating him in front of an entire crowd of people and a Daily Prophet photographer no less! He couldn't help but wonder if he would ever do such a thing to Lillian in the future and felt a pang as he realized he might not be able to keep her.

What if this mysterious cousin suddenly turned up and wanted to take custody of her? As far as he knew, Stephen.. Jerkins? Junkins? hadn't been able to contact this cousin just yet, but that could change at any moment.

Lockhart shook his head again, this time to clear it of the negative thoughts. He would enjoy his time with Lillian as much as he could, he decided.

He would treasure every moment.

* * *

A few days later, Stephen Jorkins had reached his breaking point. Earlier in the week, he had sent his owl off to Professor Snape, that git, with yet _another_ letter. This time he had cast several spells on it before sending it off. He had cast a charm on the front after he had marked it in bright red ink with the word _URGENT_ written across the front in large letters, and had set the charm to cause the word to flash on and off rather importantly, he thought.

He also cast several monitoring spells on the envelope so that he would know the very _instant_ that Professor Snape had opened the letter since this was so very important for little Lillian's future.

Instead, his anger had grown as none of the monitoring charms had gone off. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say that Professor Snape was definitely ignoring all the letters he had sent.

Well then!

Stephen had proceeded to write his most angry letter yet and then cast the spell that turned the envelope he had stuffed it into, a very bright red.

 _Ignore this,_ Stephen thought viciously as he sent the howler off with his equally annoyed owl.

* * *

* Ok, this never gets addressed in the books as far as I can tell. Harry is always described as wearing his cousin's old clothes which are about _four times too big for him_ and absolutely _no one_ ever comments on it. Ever. I felt like this was completely unrealistic so I had Lockhart notice. I figured that Harry's friends never said anything because they didn't want to embarrass him, the schoool staff never comment because he's always in his uniform at Hogwarts and everyone else is too busy stupidly staring at Harry's scar to notice what he's wearing.

** Harry dumps the set of books he gets from Lockhart in Ginny's cauldron but then the book never shows him buying more books to replace them. Maybe it was unnecessary to add in but it still bothered me. I figured since Harry is incredibly observant, he could realize that some of Lockhart's more annoying qualities were actually a facade.

*** If you haven't read _Child of Spring,_ I made up some other Seasonals since I figured Jack Frost wasn't the only one. Jasper is the Fall Spirit, August is the Summer Spirit and Lillian is the Spring Spirit, while Jack, of course, is the Winter Spirit. Everyone except Jack and Lillian have their own seasonal spirits and sprites to help them out too.

**** In _Child of Spring,_ Pitch becomes close with Jack and Lillian and becomes a sort of father figure to them. If you have read _Child of Spring,_ then you have to remember that Jack hasn't yet moved in with Pitch and Lillian, so he disappears for a good portion of the warmer months and wouldn't realize that Lillian had been missing for a long time.

Author's Note: Whew, this took a long time to write! Usually I sit down and write out a chapter in one long writing session, but this took a few days for me to write. This took especially longer, since I wrote out the entire Hat Song first. If I had known that I wasn't going to get to the sorting until the next chapter, I wouldn't have bothered, but oh well. I'm sure you guys are getting antsy for the Sorting, but I am too! It's going to be really eventful with all the gossip going on and things.

I hope you don't mind that I snuck the Guardian Jack of Lillian's mind back in there, but I missed him. He's an important character since Snape will see him whenever he visits Lillian's mind. I really miss the other Guardians too, so they'll be popping up. I'm not sure how significant to the plot they'll be, so we'll see how it plays out. If you'll remember, they don't significantly interact with Jack and Lillian until the events of _Rise of the Guardians,_ except for Bunny and Sandy.

I have also decided that I am _definitely_ doing all of _Chamber of Secrets_ and _Prisoner of Azkaban_ for this fic. I won't commit myself to the entire Harry Potter series, since that's a big undertaking, but I will at least do those two books.

I had more I was going to say about this chapter but I can't for the life of me remember what it is, so anyway please let me know what you think of this chapter. As always, if you have any suggestions please let me know!

 **Edit:** I remembered what I was going to say. I totally screwed up the timeline of when Lockhart has his book signing. Lockhart should have had his signing when he first got temporary custody of Lillian but stuff happened and it didn't happen then. I was going to put in the fic that it had been delayed, but then I realized that it wouldn't make any sense to have Harry and the Weasley's as well as Hermione delay their trip too, so.. I'm calling author's privileges and saying you should pretend you don't notice that.

 **Edit 2:** I fixed an appalling number of typos. This is what I get when I write while I'm half asleep!


	9. Chapter Nine: The Howler & The Sorting

Author's Note: This chapter is another long one and it will seem even longer with the Sorting Hat song in there too. I hope you don't mind that Jasper pops up but I figured that as the seasons change we'll probably see the Seasonals too. This chapter has a little bit of everyone in it, so I hope you enjoy it.

Reviews:

M.v.j.M.: I hope I didn't disappoint! :)

Silversun XD: I was tempted to have it arrive at the Sorting, but I couldn't explain that long of a delay in his getting the letter. But don't worry, I think something will pop up later to embarrass Snape in front of the students.

Guest: Jack will eventually interact more with the HP characters, he just has to find Lillian first! I'm still trying to decide on how exactly to integrate him into the plot. I know a common theme is to have him become a student at the school, but I feel like that's been done a thousand times, so we'll see what happens. I was going to wait for winter to arrive before he showed up in the fic at all but with him searching so earnestly now, he might find Lillian a little earlier. I wasn't even originally going to have him in this chapter but I couldn't resist showing more of him. I can't wait to have more of the ROTG characters in there either, even if all they have is a small cameo.

KijoKuroi: I'm glad that you liked everything so far. It always bothered me too that nobody ever commented on Harry's clothes or the Dursley's, so we'll definitely see more people commenting on it later on in the fic.

Crossover Junkie: I think Stephen and Snape will have an interesting relationship as they send their letters back and forth. I wasn't going to have the howler become this huge deal, but now it somehow got out of hand. It'll be interesting to see how things eventually turn out although I'll be sad to see Stephen fade back into the background as a character. I had fun writing him.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or anything from him! Some lines have been borrowed and rephrased by me. I'm trying very hard not to do direct quotes so I don't violate any copyright laws. Anything else you don't recognize belongs to me. I also don't own Rise of the Guardians!

 **Chapter Nine: The Howler and The Sorting**

It had been a few days after Jack Frost's resolution to find Lillian no matter what, and he _still_ hadn't found her anywhere. He spent most of his time in the air with the Wind whipping around him, taking him wherever he desired. He had searched all of Burgess again but still hadn't found a trace of her.

Jack frowned as he thought of Lillian's method of transportation. That giant flower would vanish without a trace, so it would be difficult to track where she could have gone. She could travel long distances and he wouldn't have any idea where she could be.

He had even thought of going to the other Seasonals for help. Surely they'd be upset that one of their own was gone, right? But he couldn't help but remember how close Jasper and August had been to Leif, the former Spring Spirit, and how they might not want to help find Leif's replacement. Jack sighed as he tried to figure out what to do. The Wind ruffled his hair and whispered in his ear as he flew around.

Jack smiled slightly as the Wind whispered soothingly to him. Even when he felt like he had no one, he always had the Wind. He scanned the scenery below him but still couldn't see any trace of Spring. He knew Lillian was careful to not spread her spring flowers around out of season, but sometimes she slipped up.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly while he still continued to fly hours later. He had been searching all day long in the U.S., but when night had started to fall, Jack had flown across the ocean to avoid Sandy. It was now early morning the next day here, and he could safely search with the sun just rising. Sandy was pretty much the only other spirit besides Lillian and Pitch that Jack could speak to and be friendly with, but he also knew that Sandy was stern about bedtimes and he knew Sandy might knock him out first and ask questions later. He couldn't afford to go to sleep now.

Jack found his eyes closing as the day wore on and he flew through the countryside. He had thought Lillian might like a nice open space to play in, but he still couldn't find her. As his eyes closed while he flew, he didn't realize that he was flying lower to the ground than he usually would.

His eyes had fully closed as he passed over a forest when a loud screech made him flinch awake with a start. Unfortunately, it also made him fling his hands out and he saw with rising horror as his staff was suddenly flung away from himself into the air. Jack scrambled in the air as he tried to reach it, but he was already dropping like a stone. The Wind screamed around him in alarm, but Jack couldn't fly without his staff. As he looked up in horror, he couldn't help but notice the rather ruffled looking owl flying away from him with a red envelope in its beak.

Jack had one moment to think irritably, _Wizards!_ before he suddenly found himself in a tree. He distantly heard another crash that would indicate his staff had fallen too and as he heard the leaves ruffle, he also heard...

"Ow! What the?!" a familiar voice cried out.

Jack, who was busy dangling awkwardly from a tree branch that he was tangled up in, looked around as he tried to spot the source of the noise.

"Hello?" he called out, his voice turning into a bit of a squeak at the end as the tree branch cracked ominously.

He glanced down to see that the ground was a long ways down. He gulped and was about to call out again when he heard the voice speak.

"FROST!" it cried out in irritation.

In a swirl of fall leaves, Jasper, Jack's almost twin, appeared looking livid.

"What are you doing here?!" Jasper shouted as Jack realized suddenly that Jasper was waving his staff around.

Jasper looked exactly like Jack, except that instead of blue eyes Jasper had a darker brown and while Jack had white hair, Jasper had brown. Jasper even wore a hoodie similar to Jack's, except that it was a darker brown to match Jasper's love for Fall.

"I fell!" Jack said with a frown. He noticed that while his tree branch was cracking ominously again, Jasper was able to stand perfectly fine on another branch.

Jack had just enough time to wonder how Jasper could possibly do that without the branch giving out when there was an even louder _CRACK!_ and with a shriek, he started to fall.

His fall was abruptly cut short, however, when with a sudden jerk, he found himself being strangled by his hoodie. Jack made a strangled sort of choking noise in protest, but Jasper pretended not to hear. When Jack had started to fall, Jasper had automatically reached out and snagged Jack by the hoodie. He gave an eye roll as Jack started to wave his arms around dramatically and in another swirl of Fall leaves, they both vanished.

They reappeared on the ground with Jack on his feet as Jasper released Jack's hoodie and shoved the staff roughly into Jack's hands. Jack flinched back a little as the older spirit gave Jack an intense look. While they might look almost exactly the same, they weren't even close to the same age. Jasper was much older than Jack as a spirit and he was older than Jack physically when he had been turned into the Spirit of Fall.

Jack hadn't even been an adult yet when he had become the Spirit of Winter, but Jasper was obviously in his mid-twenties and was a little taller than Jack. He used the age difference to his advantage as he gave Jack a stern look.

"You get out of here before I tell Mother Nature what you've been up to! We don't need another Mistral on our hands!" Jasper shouted as Jack hastily backed away.

"I just - " Jack started, but Jasper didn't want to hear it.

"Go!" Jasper shouted again as he glared at Jack.

Jack looked stricken at the _hate_ that seemed to be radiating off of Jasper. Hurt pooled in his eyes as the Wind gently picked him up into the air and whipped him away after he had cleared the trees.

"I didn't do anything," Jack muttered to himself, but the Wind whispered in his ear consolingly all the same.

Jack sighed as he went back to scanning the scenery below himself.

How would he find Lillian?

* * *

Stephen Jorkins' ministry owl wasn't having a fun time delivering the howler. For one thing, he knew he was headed in the same direction he had been to dozens of times already and he was _really_ getting annoyed with the fact that the moron he was sending letters to couldn't even be bothered to reply or at least open the letter.

Stephen had ranted angrily when he wrote the howler and had told the owl to make sure he didn't return until there was a reply. The owl had silently vowed to himself that he would haunt that man to the end of his days. He knew he had to skedaddle when he delivered the letter since he could feel the pure magic radiating from it and knew that loud and bad things could only come of _that,_ but afterward, that man wouldn't know what hit him.

If owls could smirk, this one certainly would be.

That smirk was cut short, however, when a big blue blur almost flew right into him.

The owl gave an indignant screech as Jack almost barreled right into him and the owl wasn't even sorry when Jack accidentally flung his staff away and began to fall. As far as the owl was concerned, Jack deserved it.

The owl flew onward, its eyes on its destination.

* * *

Several hours later, however, found the owl perched in a tree as it poured out. A small lantern lit the tree and Jasper was actually sitting on a nearby branch as he meticulously painted leaves while the hood was up on his hoodie.

Jasper looked tired and miserable, but his encounter with Jack had put him even farther behind than he already was. He didn't know why he had given in to August yet again when August had wheedled for more time for Summer, but Jasper couldn't help but want to help out his friend.

He sighed as he used his magical paint on the leaves, glad that the water wasn't playing hell with streaks. If it were ordinary paint it might have, but this was Jasper's special paint and it would take more than a bit of rain to make it run.

Jasper had been surprised when the owl had landed nearby, but Jasper had spotted the red envelope in its beak and shook his head.

 _Wizards._

It seemed to be the sentiment shared by most of the spirit world. Wizards always thought they knew everything, when in fact, they had much to learn. Jasper knew there was a time when the wizards hadn't hidden from the rest of the world. They had shared their magic and helped out those who didn't have it. They even believed in all the spirits and the spirits had been more than happy to live alongside them.

But then things had changed with the witch hunts and the wizards had decided to hide away from society, withdrawing from even the spirits. As the years had gone on, soon even the wizards and witches had forgotten all about the spirits, believing them to be mere legend and myth.

Jasper glanced at the owl again as he painted by the light of the lantern he had hanging from an upper tree branch. The poor owl looked bedraggled, although the envelope clutched in its beak looked perfectly fine.

Jasper couldn't help but frown at the sight and feel sorry for the poor animal.

Didn't wizards ever think of their poor owls as they sent them out in all sorts of weather?

Jasper shook his head and continued to paint his leaves.

* * *

It had been a few days after that, and Hogwarts was bustling with all sorts of activity as more and more teachers began to arrive and prepare for the hordes of students that would be arriving that very night. Breakfast had been rather crowded as the staff table was much more full than it had been, but lunch had thinned out a little.

Lillian was sitting in her dreadful chair that was attached to the table and was looking down the staff table curiously while she sat. Professor Snape was sitting by McGonagall and Dumbledore, while Flitwick sat nearby, munching on his sandwich. Hagrid wasn't present as he had to make sure the grounds were looking spectacular for the arrival of the students and the other professors that had been present in the morning were all absent as they set up their quarters and things.

Lillian was about to return back to her own sandwich when a lone owl soared into the Great Hall and with an angry screech to rival a banshee, it flew down in front of all the stunned teachers and practically threw the red envelope it had been holding in its beak in Professor Snape's face. The owl then soared back out the magical window it had come in from and went straight off to the owlry for a long sleep. The poor owl had several delays in delivering its letter and it desperately needed the rest.

Severus Snape had stilled when the red envelope was tossed at his face by the owl and he had automatically reached up and caught it before it could hit him. He could see on the envelope that it was addressed to himself and he silently cursed when he turned it over and saw that it was sealed with the wax seal of the ministry.

 _That idiot -  
_

His thoughts were cut short, however, when the envelope, which had begun smoking at the corners, suddenly burst open and an explosion of noise assaulted their ears.

He didn't even have time to escape out into the hall, Professor Snape had time to think ruefully to himself before his eardrums felt like they were going to burst.

Lillian had clapped her hands over her ears as the letter began to speak in Jorkins' voice, a hundred times louder than it usually was and sounding terribly angry.

"SEVERUS SNAPE," it shouted at him. "I HAD WANTED TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE PRIVACY IN THIS MATTER, BUT OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE LEFT ME NO CHOICE SINCE YOU REFUSE TO EVEN OPEN MY LETTERS."

Professor Snape studiously ignored everyone's curious gazes at that and he resumed eating his lunch as though a letter wasn't suddenly screaming at him. He looked unperturbed, although he was actually very angry.

What right did that dithering idiot have to send him a howler?! In front of the Great Hall no less! He was just lucky it was still the afternoon and that it hadn't arrived when all the students were there.

"IF YOU'LL REMEMBER EARLIER THIS SUMMER, THERE WAS A FUSS ABOUT A SMALL CHILD THAT HAD BEEN OBLIVIATED AND HAD BEEN PLACED IN THE TEMPORARY CUSTODY OF GILDEROY LOCKHART - "

Lockhart's mouth dropped open as he realized who was sending Snape the howler. Why would that Jenkins send _Snape_ of all people a howler about little Lillian?

"I HAD USED THE FAMILY TREE POTION TO TRY AND LOCATE HER RELATIVES. HER MOTHER WAS LILA BRIGHTON WHO HAD MARRIED ONE JOHN PARKER, BUT BEFORE THEIR MARRIAGE SHE HAD A CHILD OUT OF WEDLOCK WITH ROBERT PRINCE."

Severus paled as his Uncle was mentioned. He glanced down the staff table to see the child wailing as her ears were covered with her hands while Lockhart attempted to soothe her while glaring daggers down the table at him.

Snape quickly averted his gaze and he likewise pretended he couldn't see the penetrating gaze of the Headmaster or Minerva's stunned one.

"ROBERT PRINCE IS YOUR MOTHER'S BROTHER, WHICH MAKES THEIR CHILD, LILLIAN PARKER YOUR FIRST COUSIN. SINCE YOU CAN'T EVEN BE BOTHERED TO OPEN A LETTER, I AM IN DOUBT OF YOUR COMPETENCE TO CARE FOR YOUR COUSIN. HOWEVER, YOU ARE THE ONLY FAMILY SHE HAS LEFT. SEND ME A RESPONSE AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN AND WE CAN ONCE AND FOR ALL GET THE MATTER OF LILLIAN'S GUARDIANSHIP SETTLED.

MY OWL HAS BEEN INSTRUCTED TO WAIT FOR A REPLY AND YOU DO NOT WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU CHOOSE TO IGNORE THIS LETTER AS WELL.

I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOUR RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY AND I WILL BE INFORMING THE HEADMASTER OF YOUR PERSONAL AFFAIRS IF YOU IGNORE THIS LETTER ALSO.

YOURS,

STEPHEN JORKINS  
MINISTRY OF MAGIC  
FAMILY AFFAIRS."

The howler burst into flames as soon as the letter had ended and Snape hastily banished the ashes away. The only noise that remained in the Great Hall was Lillian's wailing as tears fell down her cheeks and she cried that her ears hurt and she was sure she'd never be able to hear again.

Lockhart stood and hastily scooped Lillian up into his arms, with his expression unreadable.

"I think," he said into the deafening silence that reigned in the hall, "that we'll go to our quarters to settle down. If you'll excuse me."

With that, Lockhart rushed with Lillian out of the hall. It was as they were leaving that Snape noticed suddenly that the child's bracelet was glowing brightly.

He narrowed his eyes at the sight but didn't have time to ponder it as the headmaster began to speak.

"Severus," the Headmaster began, but Severus had also stood.

"My affairs are my business," Snape snapped, his patience all but gone.

He avoided looking at anyone as he swept out of the Great Hall and stormed off to the dungeons.

"Well," Minerva said in the silence as she took a calming sip of her tea, "that was certainly interesting."

The Headmaster stroked his beard as he gazed off to where Professor Snape had stormed off.

So it seemed his potions professor had family after all.

He winced suddenly at the crack of thunder and the simultaneous warning from the wards that powerful magic had just been used.

He couldn't help but glance at where Lockhart had been sitting. Everyone had been too busy looking at Severus to see what Lockhart had been up to.

 _Hmm.._

* * *

Later on in the day, Stephen Jorkins' ministry owl could be seen leaving the castle with a red envelope clutched in its beak. Perhaps it had been a little childish, but Severus wasn't known for his outstanding maturity anyway. He couldn't help the satisfied smirk as Jorkins received his own howler in return. Snape, known for his scathing remarks, had actually sent a rather benign howler in return, but he was satisfied all the same.

He glanced at the fireplace yet again, as he half-expected Lockhart to come storming through with the brat, but it had remained ominously silent in the hours after the disastrous lunch in the Great Hall.

He sighed as he once again thought about the family he had never known - the Princes - as he wondered if Lillian could actually be his long-lost cousin. It didn't make any sense! Where had the child been living before that? None of his family could still be alive if Jorkins was looking to find a permanent residence for Lillian, but..

Snape shook his head at that and tucked his thoughts away into a corner of his mind. His expression went from exasperated to something more neutral. It wouldn't do to dwell on what ifs and other conjectures, he knew.

It was a bit later when his _Evening Prophet_ had arrived and he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the headline _FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES_.

How curious.

* * *

Harry Potter glanced at his best friend Ron Weasley as they both sat in Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia, with Ron in the driver's seat while Harry sat in the front passenger seat. Hedwig was sitting in the back in her cage and every once in awhile would give a disgruntled sort of hoot as she ruffled her feathers, clearly still irritated at the terrible treatment she had received at King's Cross.

Harry had told Hedwig that he was sorry already, but Ron's snicker* had made him fall silent after that and he felt like he was being silly to talk to Hedwig as if she were a person. So he busied himself with looking at the fantastic cloud shapes in the sky as the car zoomed through the air, defying all the laws of gravity as it did so.

Harry sighed softly to himself. Ron just didn't understand, Hedwig had been his very first friend. Before that, he didn't have anyone to talk to, and it always seemed like Hedwig could understand him. Whenever he spoke to her about something his relatives had done, Hedwig always hooted at him reassuringly or would nip his fingers in a friendly gesture.

Harry couldn't help but glance back at her again. She had lost some weight over the summer, but the month they had both spent at the Weasley's had put a bit of weight back on them. Harry gave her an apologetic look which she returned with her reproachful gaze.

Feeling very guilty, Harry turned back to the front to look out the window again. Hours later, Harry had to admit that the fun of the car ride had definitely worn off. Before he had been sure that he and Ron were doomed to get heat stroke, but now with the sun having set he and Ron were shivering as a chill filled the car.

Harry grabbed his too large jumper and pulled it on, grateful for once for how big it was, which meant more material to warm him with. He was just about to roll the window up (he had cracked it earlier in the day for a breeze) when something nearly hit the windshield.

"Watch it!" Harry cried out as Ron wrenched the steering wheel to the left, causing the car to suddenly turn in midair.

Whatever it was that had been about to hit them had missed the car, and Harry stared in disbelief as he could have _sworn_ he had seen what looked like a hummingbird holding a tooth as it angrily shook its fist in their direction.

Harry rubbed his eyes and decided he must be very tired.

"That was close," Ron sighed in relief. "What's a bird doing flying around at night anyway?"

Harry was about to reply that perhaps it was an unusual nocturnal bird when something of the town below caught his attention.

"What's that?" he asked as he pointed out the window.

"What's what?" Ron asked distractedly as the car engine began to whine.

"That golden stuff in the air," Harry responded as he pretended not to hear the car.

There were golden ribbons flying all around the air throughout the town and Harry couldn't help but wonder what they were. He remembered suddenly that he had seen them before at Privet Drive when he had stayed up late and would look out the window sometimes.

"I dunno!" Ron said exasperatedly as the whining grew louder. "C'mon car," he muttered as he patted the dashboard. "Almost there.. I hope."

Harry continued to stare out the window at them as he thought about what it could be. He was suddenly reminded of something he had read in the library at his primary school. It had been a book about myths and legends. His relatives would have had that book from him faster than blinking if they ever knew he had dared to read such a thing, but Harry couldn't help it. Due to his relatives trying to keep him as squashed and miserable as possible, Harry had developed a voracious curiosity that couldn't be quenched. That often lead him to the primary school library where he read everything he could.

"Do you think that could be the Sandman?" Harry asked Ron as they left the golden ribbons far behind.

Ron forgot his worries for the car for the moment and burst out laughing.

"A sand man?" Ron chortled as Harry flushed. "What sort of stupid thing is that?"

"It's.. it's a myth," Harry said quietly as he looked down at his hands. "He's supposed to go around and put people to sleep by using his sand."

Ron snickered again and Harry was forcefully reminded of how little he knew about the wizarding world. When he first learned about magic, he had been startled and soon had grown ecstatic. Every fantastic creature he had ever read about could be real then!

But maybe that had been a bit optimistic. He really should read more of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ he thought ruefully to himself.

"There's no such thing," Ron informed his disappointed friend. "It sounds like something that the muggles made up. You know how they are about magic. They just make up whatever they want and get it all wrong."

"Yeah," Harry sighed. "But I still wonder what that was."

Ron, who didn't have Harry's curiosity about such things, merely shrugged.

"I hope we make it to the castle soon, I'm starving!" he complained.

Harry couldn't help but smile at that. Ron and his black hole of a stomach.

Harry was about ready to tell Ron he was sure they were almost there when the car gave a sudden lurch.

"Uh.." Harry said as Ron gave the car another pat. "Ron..?"

"It's fine," Ron said as he continued to pat the dashboard. "It's never been this far before, that's all."

It was sometime later when he and Harry were looking around for the castle as they had lost the train.

"There!" Harry shouted, accidentally making Ron and Hedwig jump.

They could see all the turrets and lights shining from the castle as it loomed in the distance beyond the lake. As they passed over the water, the whining grew even louder and then suddenly there was a loud clunk and the engine decided to die right then and there.

Harry stared at the water below them in trepidation, but the car managed to clear the lake as they began to rapidly lose height. The castle loomed suddenly ahead of them with the wall seeming to appear out of nowhere.

"NOOOO!" Ron yelled as he wrenched the steering wheel with all his might.

Harry was tempted to cover his eyes but found he couldn't as the car passed within mere millimeters of the wall. If he had bothered to look behind him, he might have seen proof for himself that the Sandman was a real person after all.

Sandy, for his part, had grown curious when he had seen a car flying over the small town he had been delivering good dreams to via his dreamsand. So he couldn't help but fly after the car to see where it was headed.

He had grown concerned when he realized it looked like two children were flying it and he couldn't help but wonder what on earth the wizards were up to now. As the car had flown over a lake towards Hogwarts, Sandy realized that they must be students at the castle.

Sandy shook his head at this, but his concern had grown when the car engine suddenly seemed to die and the car gained speed as it fell through the air, zooming straight for the castle wall.

Sandy wanted to facepalm at that but he managed to fling out a long golden dreamsand whip and catch the car on the bottom with it as he yanked as hard as he could on the dreamsand whip. With his effort combined with Ron wrenching the wheel, the car managed to avoid the castle wall, but only just.

It had been a very close call.

Sandy gave a silent cheer as his dreamsand whip let the car go, but his cheer was cut short when the car crash landed into a large tree.

Whoops.

Sandy flew closer to the car but glanced nervously at the castle. He knew that wizards often had wards around their residences and it wouldn't do to have them discover him. While normally it was a good thing to have people see him, with wizards it was often the opposite that was true. They tended to fire off spells first and ask questions later.

Sandy winced when the tree began to beat up the car, but the car had decided it had had enough and had reversed itself away from the danger. Sandy couldn't help but chuckle when he saw the two boys being ejected from the irate car and decided that they were safe.

As he flew off on his golden cloud, he never realized how close he had come to finding the Child of Spring.

* * *

A little bit before Sandy accidentally helped Harry and Ron with their landing, several first years filed into the Great Hall to stand in line for their sorting. The staff table was full, although Professor Dumbledore seemed to be looking over the Gryffindor table in concern.

Hermione Granger had seated herself next to the Weasley twins and seemed to be questioning them very earnestly, despite the glower that Professor McGonagall was sending in her direction. It was unusual for Hermione to talk during the Sorting Hat's song and even more unusual for her to ignore a professor.

Most the Hall fell silent when the Sorting Hat began to sing and even Hermione stopped her neverending questioning to listen in:

"Oh, you may not think I'm special,  
You may not think I'm grand,  
But let me tell you  
What you don't understand.

I'll pick a house where  
I think you should be,  
One that will suit you  
Especially.

Could it be in Gryffindor where dwell  
The brave and bold?  
Decked out in colors of resplendent  
Red and gold.

Or could it be in Ravenclaw,  
Where those with brilliance  
Truly shine?  
In colors of blue and bronze, they look  
Quite sublime!

You might also belong in Hufflepuff  
Who are busy as a bee!  
In colors of yellow and black  
They are unmatched  
In loyalty.

Or are you suited for Slytherin,  
Whose cunning knows no end?  
Wearing green and silver,  
They stay amongst their friends.

Now you know what it is  
That I have to do,  
I must choose a house  
For each and every  
One of you.

As I split you house by house,  
I feel I must give forewarning,  
There is an ancient power  
That seems to be reforming.

Not seen by wizards for  
Many, many centuries  
This power is really  
Quite extraordinary.

I hope you listen closely  
And are looking  
At the signs,  
The weather will be changing  
Suddenly with time.

This power is quite special  
It really is quite rare,  
But I do not want  
To leave you  
Completely unaware.

I hope you take precautions  
And you do all look out,  
For it seems like  
It looks to me  
The Seasonals are about!"**

Hermione looked very surprised as the hat fell silent again. She tried to think if she had ever come across these Seasonals in anything she had read, but she couldn't seem to remember anything. She glanced at the twins who only looked slightly interested before they began whispering to themselves about pranks. Hermione huffed and crossed her arms as she looked up at the staff table.

She noticed that Professor Dumbledore had leaned over to Professor Snape, and said something to him while Professor Snape shot a look of annoyance at the Headmaster. She noticed that Professor Lockhart didn't seem as jovial as he usually did either. Lockhart flashed a dazzling smile at anyone who looked at him, but if anyone had been paying close attention they could see how tense he was.

Hermione was surprised at the child that was with Lockhart, but then recalled the rumors she had heard on the train of Lockhart becoming a temporary Guardian for a small girl. She noticed that the girl had looked startled after the Sorting, but now she was looking rather glum and kept looking down the table to Professor Snape.

If either Professor Lockhart or Professor Snape noticed, they both pretended that they didn't. Professor Snape stood and swiftly left the Great Hall as students began to whisper amongst themselves.

Hermione watched distractedly as the students began to be sorted, but she couldn't help but wonder where Harry and Ron could be. She bit her lower lip as a short while after Colin Creevy had been sorted into Gryffindor, Professor Snape returned to the Great Hall to whisper to Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall, speaking first to Dumbledore and then McGonagall. Professor Snape looked quite serious and Professor McGonagall looked about ready to breathe fire after Professor Snape finished speaking. Professor Dumbledore looked very grave and it wasn't long before all three had left the Great Hall.

Before Professor Dumbledore left with the others, however, he stood to give out the notices after the Sorting had finished.

"Welcome," he began as he spread his arms wide with a small smile, "to Hogwarts. I hope you all don't mind a few start of term notices before we are all watered and fed."

Snape stood off to the side with McGonagall as they both waited impatiently for the Headmaster to finish the notices.

McGonagall seemed to be muttering to herself angrily while they waited and Professor Snape was hard pressed to keep himself from smiling.

"..Reckless.. Don't know what.. When I get my hands on them.." McGonagall muttered as Dumbledore continued to speak.

"I would like to remind you all that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to all students," he again flashed his twinkling gaze to the Weasley twins who both grinned in return to him as Hermione rolled her eyes at their antics. "Mr. Filch has kindly asked me to remind you that spell casting is forbidden in the halls, as are a number of products. He has the list posted in his office for those who would like to see it."

The Weasley twins snickered at this and even Hermione repressed a laugh at that. Who would ever want to willingly go to Filch's office to look at that list anyway?

"Now, I would like to introduce you all to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart," Dumbledore continued.

Professor Lockhart gave a small start as he was announced since he had been looking down at his goblet a little moodily. To be honest, he didn't even feel like being at the feast at all and would rather spend some quality time with his charge, while she would remain his charge, that is. He knew it was only a matter of time before Professor Snape came to take her away.

But as he stood to give a wave to the suddenly screaming crowd of students (not all of whom were girls it seemed), he plastered his best smile on his face.

"Thank you, thank you!" Lockhart cried as the thunderous applause and screaming began to die down. "I look forward to teaching you all in my upcoming classes this year."

With that, he sat back down and some of the students looked a little disappointed at that. They had expected a grand speech from Lockhart, but they didn't know that he wasn't in the mood for speeches tonight.

"With that out of the way," Professor Dumbledore said as he waved his hand across the hall and mountains of food magically appeared on the table, "I invite you all to tuck in!"

While the students were distracted by the food, Professor Dumbledore joined Professor Snape and McGonagall and the three soon descended down into the dungeons.

When they were in the dungeons, Professor McGonagall spoke up.

"So, Potter and Weasley were the ones who drove that Ford Anglia all over the country?" she asked, although she was struggling to keep her voice even. She had never been more angry with her students.

"It looked like they crashed into the Whomping Willow," Professor Snape confirmed.

Professor Dumbledore glanced at McGonagall and Snape.

"Severus, did you happen to see if anything else was out there?" he questioned.

"Of course not." Professor Snape answered at once. Then after a pause, "Why?"

Professor Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully while they walked.

"Shortly before the boys crashed, the castle wards informed me that a powerful being entered the grounds." he replied.

Professor Snape snorted while McGonagall looked very surprised.

"What?" she asked sharply. "What do you mean?"

Snape glanced at her, and then realized she probably didn't know anything about their suspicions of Lockhart or any signs of powerful magic being used. It had never occurred to him to say anything, and Dumbledore probably had his own reasons for keeping quiet.

"It could have been a magical creature that strayed onto the grounds," Professor Dumbledore replied easily. "If I recall, it's happened before."

"Albus," Minerva began but was cut short when they arrived at Professor Snape's office.

When they entered, both boys jumped as McGonagall brandished her wand and used it to light a fire. Professor Snape narrowed his eyes when he noticed them both flinch, as though they were expecting to be cursed.

"Sit," McGonagall commanded tersely. "Explain."

Harry's throat felt too constricted to talk as he looked down at his hands which were in his lap miserably, so Ron launched into the story, as he quickly explained everything that happened.

All Harry could think about was what the Dursleys would say when he turned up on their doorstep, and how he had been locked up in his room all summer. Would they lock him and Hedwig up forever? And Hedwig.. Would he even be allowed to keep her?

Professor Snape studied both boys as they sat. Weasley was pale and talking a mile a minute while he waved his hands around emphatically, and Potter sat quietly, looking the epitome of miserable and full of regret. He frowned suddenly, as he noticed for once that Potter's clothes were.. odd. They were far too big for him and even looked more worn than Weasley's clothes.

Potter was a pampered prince, wasn't he? Why would he wear such scruffy looking clothes?

" - So we had to Professor, we had no choice, we couldn't get onto the train."

Professor Snape repressed a snort at that.

 _Gryffindors._

They never did use their heads, did they?

"Why didn't you use your owl, Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked them a little coldly. "I believe you have an owl?"

Harry felt his stomach drop down to his knees as he started to turn red.

"Professor, I - " he began, his voice trembling a little. He _really_ didn't want to go back to the Dursleys. "I didn't think - "

"That," Professor McGonagall cut him off severely, "is obvious."

Professor Dumbledore chose that moment to step forward and Harry felt like his insides had disappeared altogether. He looked up as Professor Dumbledore began to speak, and Snape saw Lily's eyes widening, looking sad and lost. His expression became unreadable as he ruthlessly shoved his emotions into a back corner of his mind. It was their own fault if they got expelled.

"I am very disappointed in you both," Professor Dumbledore began, but Ron cut him off.

"We'll go get our stuff," he said in a hopeless sort of voice.

"What are you talking about?" Professor McGonagall interjected.

"You're expelling us, aren't you?" Ron asked.

Harry looked quickly from Professor McGonagall to Professor Dumbledore.

"Not today Mr. Weasley," Professor Dumbledore began, "but I will be writing to both of your families. I also feel I must warn you, that if you do anything like this ever again, you will both be expelled."

Harry felt some of the feeling surge back into himself. To his dismay, he felt tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He quickly blinked, trying to clear them away and hastily took his glasses off to wipe them on his robes while he averted his gaze from the professors. When he put his glasses back on, he saw McGonagall had softened a little and felt himself go red again. Had she seen?

"Professor," Snape said into the silence that followed with his voice oddly tight, "These boys have flouted the Statute of Secrecy, not to mention the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry and have caused damage to a valuable tree. I feel - "

But Professor Dumbledore cut them off, feeling disappointment in his potions professor. Couldn't he set aside his hatred for James Potter when it concerned young Harry?

"Severus, it is up to Professor McGonagall to decide these boys' punishments, as their Head of House," Professor Dumbledore reminded him. "Now come, there was a delicious looking tart that I wanted to sample."

With that, Professor Snape had no choice but to sweep out after Dumbledore with his black robes swishing impressively. Once they were out into the hall with the door firmly closed behind themselves, Professor Snape turned to Professor Dumbledore.

"I wasn't trying to argue for them to be expelled," he said in that same oddly tight voice. "I merely felt that their punishment should be more severe."

"The severity of that punishment is up to Professor McGonagall," Professor Dumbledore replied.

Snape sighed, having a feeling that McGonagall wouldn't be as strict as the situation required. He had seen her expression soften as she gazed at Potter. Honestly, everyone had too much of a soft spot where he was concerned. He practically got himself killed last year and Professor Dumbledore rewarded him?

Not to mention everything he did to try and protect the boy, and the brat still didn't even acknowledge that! And whoever had set him on fire during that match -

His silent fuming was cut off when Professor Dumbledore spoke.

"That was an interesting Sorting Song, wasn't it?" he asked mildly.

Professor Snape's fuming was redirected toward the Sorting Hat and he remembered how at the end it gave a warning about the Seasonals.

"Have you heard of them?" Professor Snape asked.

"Indeed I have," Dumbledore replied with a nod. "They are very ancient and powerful magical beings, but no one has seen them for several centuries. It is very difficult to find any mention of them in texts. It is rumored that they have the power to control the weather."

"What?" Professor Snape asked sharply as he glanced at Professor Dumbledore. "The wards - "

"Ah," Professor Dumbledore said as he came to the same conclusion, "You think one of them has found their way to Hogwarts?"

"It fits," Professor Snape said. "The weather has been acting peculiar lately and we've had far more storms than we normally do."

"If there is a Seasonal lurking around, then I am afraid there is not much we can do," Professor Dumbledore sighed. "Only Mother Nature can control them, and I do not possess the means to contact her."

Professor Snape snorted but then paused. "So that means that Lockhart - "

"We'll have to wait and see," Professor Dumbledore said as they reached the doors to the Great Hall. "I would still like you to keep an eye on him."

They both fell silent as they quietly reentered the Hall and made their way back up to the staff table. A little later they were both joined by Professor McGonagall who shot Snape a surprised look.

"You healed Weasley's injury?" she inquired as she heaped her plate with food before the desserts could take over.

"Essence of Dittany,"*** Professor Snape confirmed and then rolled his eyes at the look of incredulity that she had. "Contrary to popular belief, I would not leave a student injured. I trust their punishments were sufficient?"

Professor Dumbledore shot Severus a look of warning and he fell silent. As McGonagall hastily busied herself with her meal he knew that the punishment did not fit the crime.

Figures.

* * *

After the feast was over, all the students began to file out of the Hall with the professors bringing up the rear. As Lockhart made to go upstairs with Lillian in his arms, Professor Snape caught him by the arm.

"A word," he said tersely to Lockhart.

Professor Lockhart felt his heart plummet as he silently nodded and followed Snape off to a shadowy corner.

"I have sent that ministry official a reply asking for the girl's family tree," Professor Snape said, "and until I have confirmation of her relations, I feel that she should remain with you."

Lockhart gave Snape a very surprised look at this.

"You.. you do?" he stammered, not daring to hope.

Snape rolled his eyes.

"Your classroom is better suited for a child than mine is," he said with a hint of exasperation.

Lillian, who had been very quiet the entire time and even during the feast finally spoke up.

"Will you still help me get my memories back?" she asked, sounding subdued.

"Of course I will," Professor Snape said at once.

Lillian allowed herself a small smile at that, as she tiredly lay her head down on Lockhart's shoulder.

"So," Lockhart said, "We'll talk once you have received your reply?"

Professor Snape nodded.

"I expect it within a few days."

Disappointment flashed across Lockhart's face.

"Right," he mumbled as he took Lillian off to their quarters. "Good night, Professor."

As he climbed the stairs to his quarters, Lockhart thought he could hear what sounded like a loud explosion of noise coming from far upstairs.

He shook his head at what he could only assume was the Gryffindors congratulating young Harry and his friend on their interesting arrival.

Perhaps Harry Potter liked attention more than he thought.

* * *

* This isn't a Ron bashing fic or any bashing fic at all. It's just that Ron is insensitive a lot of the time and I would think that as his first human friend, Harry would be reluctant to contradict Ron on some things. It also seems realistic to me that Ron would unintentionally hurt Harry's feelings sometimes.

** As stated in the fic, wizards and witches don't actually know a whole lot about the Seasonals. The Sorting Hat is very, very old so it probably has heard of them. With it also living in Dumbledore's office, it probably heard Dumbledore talking to himself about the strange weather lately and what it could have been. The Sorting Hat wouldn't know what the Seasonals are, precisely, just that they are very powerful magical beings - thus, the warning.

*** Even though Snape has issues with Harry, that doesn't excuse him from leaving Ron sitting there with blood dripping down his head as he tries to get them expelled. I would like to think that even he couldn't be so heartless, so I had him help Ron out.

Author's Note: Whew! This chapter took forever to write. I did most of it in one day, but I did have to take a break to sleep. :) I hope you don't mind that we saw more of Jack but I couldn't just leave him where he was. There's no way he'd make such a resolution to himself and then not do anything. I kept going back and forth on having Harry and Ron almost hit Baby Tooth or Jack but I felt like it was far too convenient to have Jack find them so early, so he's still on the lookout for Lillian.

Were you surprised that Sandy showed up? I might toy around more with ROTG characters helping out HP characters and secretly being the reason behind certain plot points. Example: Sandy helped fling the car away from the castle (Ron didn't do it all by himself in this), but accidentally helped them crash into the Whomping Willow. Sandy is one of my favorite characters (along with Bunny) and will be making more of an appearance in the fic. It makes sense, since even he would want to give the students of Hogwarts good dreams.

The other ROTG characters will turn up eventually as their respective holidays come around. We might not see much of Tooth at all but as you'll recall, she didn't really go out into the field until after the ROTG plot. But we'll certainly see more of Baby Tooth! You just have to remember that she doesn't have a name yet.

If you have any suggestions on anything with the plot, ROTG characters etc, feel free to let me know! I also want to thank all the follows and faves I've been getting too.


	10. Chapter Ten: Letters, Memories & Defense

Author's Note: This took me awhile to write! I don't have time to write much during the week, so I had to finish this up on the weekend. The good news is that this is way longer than I thought it would be, so I hope you all enjoy that at least.

Reviews:

M.v.j.M.: Pitch probably won't turn up at all for a long time. He seems to be particularly busy plotting at the moment, but don't worry.. He'll come to his senses eventually. We _will_ see him at some point during the fic, but I can't say when just yet. I'm also glad that you liked the owl POV. :)

Lady Syndra: It's hard to say what the wizards would do if they did discover who she really is. And thank you for reminding me that Harry does crave some attention after all. Lockhart's just fighting with his preconceptions of Harry at that point.

Crossover Junkie: I admit it did cross my mind a little, but you're right. It's way too common and it'd be silly for Jack to show up and immediately get thrown into school. I think it would be more interesting to try and integrate him into the fic _without_ him being a student. We'll see when he does turn up at Hogwarts. I'm thinking not before Halloween at this point.

Also, that would be hilarious if some of the wizarding community found out about the _Wizards!_ thing. They'd probably be shocked that a good deal of the spirit world views them as nothing more than a nuisance.

Guest: Well, you did point out a major flaw in the first chapter. However, since I'm already ten chapters in, I'm not changing it. Those who choose to will just have to suspend their disbelief a bit and gloss over that part. As for people not obliviating willy nilly like that, I have to point you in the direction of _Goblet of Fire,_ when it was pointed out that during the Quidditch World Cup that Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager, was obliviated _ten times a day._ That can't be healthy for anyone's mind. Besides, Lillian getting her memories back is now a major part of the story, so I'm sorry if you don't like it, but it's going to stay.

SimpleWriter44: Your review made my whole day! :) Thank you so much!

Any reviewer that I skipped over has been pmed. Now, on with the story!

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything Harry Potter related. Some lines may have purposely been tweaked to avoid copyright. (IE: Errol having the letter tied to his leg instead of holding it in his beak) I tried not to use anything verbatim, but if I did, remember.. I own nothing!

 **Chapter Ten: Letters, Memories and Defense**

It had taken Lockhart no time at all to put the rather subdued Lillian to bed, his mind racing as he read her one of the stories from _Tales of Beedle the Bard_ on autopilot.

It wasn't until he was getting ready for bed that he remembered the things he had purchased for young Harry Potter. He paused as he considered his options, but as it was getting late, now _would_ be a good time to send Harry the things he had bought without embarrassing him.

With a sigh, Lockhart went to fetch a quill, ink, and parchment as he decided on what he should even say about this gesture.

In the end, Lockhart had decided that an anonymous note would be best. That way the boy wouldn't have any idea who sent him the gift and it certainly couldn't be called favoritism. It hadn't taken him long to sneak off to the owlry after quickly checking that Lillian was asleep and soon he had sent off the package of what he had purchased. He had made certain to use a very ordinary looking bird, one that looked like any other owl so that even that couldn't be traced back to himself.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Lockhart nodded to himself tiredly as he went to head back to his quarters and off to bed. He winced as he thought of all the things he had recently purchased for Lillian and what he would do with them now.[1]

* * *

After all the fuss had died down in the Gryffindor dormitories, Harry couldn't help but grin as he settled down into bed. If he had been receiving all this praise before he had spoken to Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall he might have been uncomfortable, but just knowing that he wasn't going to get expelled was a huge weight off his chest.

His smile faded slightly as he thought of the mind-numbing panic he had at the possibility of losing the only place that had felt like a home to him.

 _You're not expelled,_ he told himself firmly as he removed his glasses and set them on the bedside table. _And you're not going to be expelled._

With that thought firmly in mind, it didn't take long for Harry to drift off to sleep. It felt like he had hardly been asleep a few minutes, however, when a _tap tap tap_ at the dormitory window was waking him up.

He slowly sat up sleepily as he heard more tapping at the window. He rubbed an eye as he grabbed his glasses and put them back on, blearily looking over at the window.

Harry blinked in surprise when he noticed the owl perched on the sill outside, a medium-sized package tied to its legs. After quickly glancing around and seeing that his dormmates were all sound asleep, Harry quickly climbed out of bed and very quietly opened the window for the owl.

The owl blinked at him and hopped inside the window quickly before staring at Harry. Harry, having expected the owl to fly over to someone else, looked a little flustered for a moment before he clearly saw _"To Harry Potter"_ neatly written in a curly, loopy script on the front of the package.

Looking stunned for a moment, Harry quickly untied the package from the owl's legs and watched as the owl quickly flew back out of the window.

Harry looked down at the package and carefully unwrapped it with trembling fingers. Who had sent this to him? He had only gotten a few packages for Christmas last year, plus the cake that Hagrid had made for his eleventh birthday. Those were the first real presents he had ever gotten. When he unwrapped the brown paper of the package, the first thing he noticed was the carefully folded sheet of parchment sitting on top of a small pile of things.

He eagerly picked it up and unfolded the paper, hoping that whoever had sent him this had signed their name.

It read:

 _Harry,_

 _I feel that you could use these in the coming school year. Remember, even though the school year requires certain texts, it never hurts to get a few extra books to help you out or to even purchase a few for the pleasure of reading. I hope you don't think I'm presumptuous to send you clothes, but I know a growing boy always needs new things to wear._

Harry blinked at that and looked down to see that there were some clothes under a small stack of books. He glanced at the letter again, but was disappointed to see that it wasn't signed. The books, he saw, would help him out in his current classes. There were things such as _An Illustrated Guide to Potions,_ _Charms for the Charming,_ _Defense Against the Dark,_ and _Tantalizing Transfigurations._

Harry set the books aside and picked up the clothes. He held up a shirt to see that it looked like it would fit him perfectly. His fingers clenched the shirt tightly as he tried to stop the tears from springing to his eyes, but he couldn't help it.

For the very first time in eleven long years, he finally had clothes that would fit him. These obviously weren't someone's cast offs that should have been binned. Someone had taken the time to buy these things just for him. He saw there were a few warm shirts in emerald green and then red as well as a few pairs of jeans. He also noticed at the bottom of the pile was a casual set of wizard's robes. Harry couldn't help but give a shaky laugh as he thought about wearing the casual robes, the first thought popping into his head of what his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would ever say if they saw him in them.

He hastily wiped his eyes as he grinned down at the things he had received. Whoever this person was who had sent him those things, they were _brilliant_. He only hoped he could figure out who it was so he could thank them.

As he was putting his things away in his trunk, however, he was surprised to hear another _tap tap tap_ on the dormitory window.

Harry glanced over in surprise and then checked his watch. It was really getting late. Who would be sending a letter now? Wondering who this letter could be for, he straightened up and went over to the window. He opened it and the owl held out its leg to Harry, as it had perched on the window sill. Harry blinked in surprise but untied the letter.

With its job done, the owl turned around and soared off into the night.

Harry stared down at the letter, which was tied shut with a string, envelope forgone. Harry absently closed the window and then made his way over to his bed, sinking down onto it as he hastily untied the string.

When it was untied the tightly scrolled parchment sprang open and Harry began to read the letter, his heart thumping as he wondered who it could be from.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I'm sure you don't have any idea who I am anymore, but I was a friend of your dad's. The last time I saw you, you were grinning up at me with applesauce on your cheeks._

Harry couldn't help but blush furiously at that. This person had known him when he was a baby? Who was he? No one had mentioned anything about his parents' friends still being alive. He couldn't help but wonder why this so-called friend hadn't ever written to him before and felt a little hurt. This friend could have rescued him from the Dursleys _ages_ ago.

 _I'm sure you're wondering why I waited until now to contact you, but I didn't want to disrupt your life with your relatives. I thought of writing to you last year, but I knew you would be busy adjusting to life at Hogwarts and your first year can be a bit overwhelming. I hope you can forgive me for waiting so long and that we can continue to correspond. Please forgive the lateness of this letter, but I felt it would be quite personal to you and you would want to open it away from prying eyes._

 _I shall await your reply, as I hope you would let me know one way or another if you would like to continue our correspondence._

 _-Remus Lupin._ [2]

 _P.S. Both of your parents were in Gryffindor and so was I. What house were you sorted into?_

Harry couldn't help but laugh a little at the postscript and went to fetch something to reply with when a wave of tiredness crashed over him. Vowing to reply first thing the next morning, Harry hastily finished putting his new clothes away and set the letter down on his bedside table. Climbing back into bed, Harry couldn't help but glance at the window, just to make sure that there weren't any more owls lurking outside. Satisfied that the late night deliveries were done, Harry removed his glasses and set them down next to his letter.

As he slumped back onto his pillow and his eyes slid shut, he couldn't help but wonder what this Remus Lupin was like and if he was really friends with his dad.

* * *

The next day dawned a little too early for Harry, but he found his eyes opening far earlier than Ron's anyway. He blearily sat up and put his glasses on as he glanced toward the window to gauge how early it was. The sky was blazing with various pinks and reds to indicate that the sun was rising. As Harry watched the sky grow steadily brighter, he suddenly remembered the owls he had gotten the night before.

Suddenly feeling wide awake, Harry grinned as he eagerly climbed out of bed and hurried to his trunk. He flung it open (although quietly, so as not to wake anyone) and saw his newly acquired things neatly folded on top. Harry fingered a jumper, wishing he could wear one right now but instead he grabbed a few toiletries and set them on his bed.

Walking over to the wardrobe he pulled out a fresh uniform to wear and laid it out on the bed for himself. After he was done he grabbed his toiletries and headed to the bathroom.

One refreshing shower later, Harry soon returned to change into his uniform. It was still early, but he knew he'd have a few hours to himself before Ron and Hermione would finally wake and they could go down to breakfast together.

Grabbing fresh parchment, ink, and quill, Harry quietly left to go down to the common room. He set everything down on a table and then stared at the blank parchment after loading up a quill with ink.

What should he write?

Harry stared down at the parchment uncomfortably. He never had any experience writing any letters. He would have written to Ron and Hermione over the summer, but Hedwig had been padlocked into her cage and that house elf, Dobby, had stolen all the letters his friends had sent him that summer.

Harry cast his mind back to the letter from Lupin and decided that copying his style would be best. It seemed to fit with his lessons in primary school on letter writing anyway. Trying to write as neatly as possible, Harry began his letter.

 _Dear Mr. Lupin,_

 _Thank you for your letter. I never met any of my mum's or dad's friends before, but there are people around Hogwarts that say they knew them. They always say that I look like my dad, but have my mum's eyes._

Here Harry paused, wondering what else to write. Well, Lupin did say to let him know if Harry wanted to continue to correspond.

 _I would like to keep writing to you if you don't mind. No one has told me much about my parents, except that my dad was Head Boy and my mum was Head Girl and that my dad was a Quidditch player at Hogwarts. Could you please tell me more about them? My Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon don't like to talk about them, so I don't know much._

 _Thank you very much,_

 _Harry Potter._

 _P.S. I was sorted into Gryffindor._

Harry finished the letter and wondered if he should put how the Sorting Hat had considered him for Slytherin. Then he remembered Slytherin's horrible reputation and decided that was best left out. He wanted Mr. Lupin to have a good impression of him and he felt that wasn't the way to go.

Harry gently blew on the parchment to dry the ink and once satisfied that it was dry, he carefully rolled the parchment up and tied it shut with a bit of string. Carefully placing the rolled up scroll into a pocket, Harry climbed through the portrait hole and left the tower to head to the owlry.

* * *

A few hours later, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione, the latter of whom was eating breakfast at top speed and seemed determined to be as fast as possible.

"Are you trying to make yourself sick?" Ron asked in amazement as he stared at Hermione cramming the food in.

"No," Hermione said after swallowing. "I wanted to get to the library before class starts."

She still sounded a little stiff, since she was still disapproving of the way that Harry and Ron had arrived at Hogwarts and the way they were so dismissive of it.

"What?" Ron laughed. "We don't even have any homework yet! We haven't even started classes!"

Hermione merely shrugged and continued at top speed. After she was done, she quickly gathered her school bag and departed before even the morning owls had arrived.

"Mental," Ron shook his head as he turned back to his breakfast.

"Why do you think she went to the library?" Harry asked Ron as he looked at where Hermione went curiously.

"Who knows?" Ron said thickly through a mouthful of food. "It's Hermione, she probably missed her home away from home."

While Harry and Ron were enjoying their breakfast, Lockhart was sitting next to Lillian at the staff table. Lockhart kept shooting Lillian anxious glances, slightly nervous about how she would be during class, and if her accidental magic would play up. He couldn't afford to have it rain in class!

"You have your box, don't you?" Lockhart asked her suddenly.

Lillian gave him a less-than-amused look since he'd asked her at least three times already, two of which when they were still in their quarters and the last time had been on their way down to the Great Hall.

 _"Yes,"_ Lillian said emphatically. "And it's packed with all my things too."

"Good, good," Lockhart said distractedly as the morning owls started coming in.

He was so distracted, however, that he failed to notice the spectacular crash landing one owl made as it landed in Harry's bowl of cereal, spraying everyone with milk.

"What the?!" Harry gasped.

The owl managed to feebly get itself out of the cereal bowl and then it fell right over with its legs in the air, a damp envelope tied to its leg.

"Oh no!" Ron groaned as he spotted the envelope.

"Is it ok?" Harry asked as he prodded the owl a bit.

"She's.. she's..." Ron said, turning a little green as he untied the letter from the owl's leg. "She's sent me a howler!"

"What's a howler?" Harry asked Ron with a quizzical look, but Ron was too busy staring at the envelope to answer his friend.

"They're awful," Neville spoke up. "My Gran sent me one last year and it was terrible!"

Harry was about to comment on that, when the envelope, which had begun smoking at the corners very ominously, suddenly burst open with an explosion of noise.

"RONALD WEASLEY - " Mrs. Weasley's voice screamed at the top of her lungs at him, as Ron sunk down in his seat, his ears flaming red to match the rest of his face.

When the screaming started, Lillian had the fleeting thought of _Wizards!_ as she went to cover her ears. However, she was surprised when someone covered her ears for her. She hadn't noticed that as soon as the howler started shouting, Professor Snape had stood and quick as a flash, went over to Lillian.

He gently cupped his hands around her ears and murmured a spell that no one could hear over all the clamor. When he pulled his hands away, all Lillian could hear was a buzzing noise that made her frown slightly. But it was much better than having her eardrums feel like they were going to explode.

He nonchalantly returned to his seat and no one seemed to have noticed, except for the Headmaster as his twinkling gaze eyed Professor Snape in amusement. Professor Snape, however, didn't seem to notice as he took a sip of pumpkin juice and smirked at Weasley and Potter.

" - AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE I'LL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!" the howler finished its tirade as it burst into flames.

Harry gaped at the sudden pile of ashes on the table as he stared in shock at the remains of the howler.

"..Who.. who on earth invented _that?_ " he asked faintly.

Neville snorted at that.

"Someone who was really irate, apparently," he replied as he gently picked up Errol and helped him to a bit of water. The owl gave a feeble hoot of thanks and began to drink deeply.

Soon Errol had revived enough to fly out of the Great Hall and off to the owlry for a long rest before beginning his journey home.

After a few moments of stunned silence, a few students laughed and then began to resume talking. As the Heads of Houses all rose and began to hand out the course schedules, Lockhart wiped his mouth and made sure Lillian was presentable as well and picked her up from her chair. He quickly carried her out of the hall, but instead of heading to his classroom, he made to leave the grounds.

"I thought we could go outside for a bit," he explained. "I have a free period right now and you might enjoy the fresh air."

Lillian grinned at that, perfectly able to hear again thanks to the discreet _finite incantatum_ that had been cast her way.

"Yay!" she exclaimed as she was set down gently on the ground after they went through the front doors of the castle.

Lillian ran right out to the grass and Lockhart looked off towards where the Whomping Willow was, wondering if the tree was alright or not. When he looked back towards Lillian, he saw her surrounded by a small field of spring flowers. He looked at them, very perplexed. It was Autumn, right?

Walking over to her with trepidation, he looked down at his charge.

"Where did all these flowers come from?" he asked her quietly.

Lillian gave him a startled look and looked around, just noticing them for the first time.

"I.. I don't know," she said uneasily.

Lillian went to move away from all the spring flowers, but they seemed to follow her steps. Soon Lillian was running, and Lockhart saw to his dismay that there was now a long trail of spring flowers following Lillian.

Thinking quickly, he banished the spring flowers with a sweep of his wand and then hurried after his charge, banishing more flowers as he went. Soon he had caught up to her and scooped her into his arms as he quickly banished the rest of the flowers.

"You have the strangest accidental magic," he said to her as he tucked his wand back into his pocket for safekeeping.

"Sorry," Lillian said sheepishly.

"It's quite alright," Lockhart said as he smiled at her. "It keeps me on my toes! But perhaps we can go back inside for now and I can prepare for class."

Lillian sighed, as she didn't want to go back inside the stuffy castle. She hadn't realized it, but a part of her had been longing to go outside. When she was finally outdoors again, she felt.. _alive._

She pouted up at Lockhart, who looked bemused at her reaction.

"Can't we stay outside a little longer?" she wheedled. "Please?"

"No," Lockhart said at once. "I don't want anyone else seeing your strange accidental magic. Remember, we want to make a good first impression. Besides, I think Hagrid would be put out if he saw all those flowers. He's in charge of the upkeep of the grounds, you know."

"But - " Lillian tried protesting, but Lockhart put his foot down.

"That is final, young lady," Lockhart said, his voice stern.

Lillian's face fell as Lockhart went to carry her back inside. He was waylaid hower, by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had missed the eventful breakfast and turned up just in time to go to class.

"Hello, Professor!" Hermione said brightly to Lockhart, her cheeks turning a bit pink as she spoke.

Ron noticed this and snickered a little, causing Hermione to not-so-discreetly step on Ron's foot. Professor Lockhart, fortunately, didn't seem to notice this exchange.

"Why hello there, Miss Granger, Mister Potter, and Mister Weasley," Lockhart said jovially to them, flashing his most dazzling smile. "On your way to Herbology, I suppose?"

"Yes," Hermione beamed at Lockhart. "I hear we get to work in Greenhouse Three today!"

Harry noticed that Lillian seemed to be pouting over something, but Lockhart seemed to be ignoring her. She wiggled in his arms a bit, trying to get back down, but he tightened his hold and refused to let her go.

Lillian huffed and crossed her arms at this and Harry couldn't help but smile at that. He had been surprised when he first noticed Lillian sitting at the staff table with Lockhart and had wondered how she had even made it to Hogwarts. Didn't Mr. Weasley obliviate her for finding out about magic?

Come to think of it, how _did_ she manage to get on top of the Weasleys' car? Unless Ron and the twins had landed somewhere and she managed to climb on without their noticing. He remembered when they had heard that loud bang on the roof, but the car had been in the air then. It would have been impossible for anyone to get on at that point.

Ignoring Lockhart's rambles about plants, Harry looked curiously at Lillian instead.

"What are you doing at Hogwarts?" he asked her curiously.

Lillian blinked at Harry. He looked awfully familiar to her. Had she seen him somewhere before? And then, as her eyes widened in surprise, the images came to her, a little hazy:

 _Walking along the edge of Privet Drive with spring flowers springing up after her magically. The part of Lillian observing this memory could tell that Memory Lillian was doing this on purpose, but why?_

 _Then looking over to see a small boy in overlarge clothes working diligently in a flower bed. Her looking at him quite curiously before continuing on her way._

 _Another image of meeting said boy as he dragged his suitcase and had a snowy owl in a cage._

 _Yet another image as she stood near the house at Number Four, Privet Drive, looking up in awe at a flying car._

 _Wait a minute.._

 _There was something important about this image, she knew._

 _Something that disturbed her.._

 _But before she could think of what it could be, the images were gone._

" - okay?" a voice interrupted her and the small series of flashbacks ended abruptly.

She noticed with embarrassment that everyone was looking at her in concern, but then she smiled excitedly at Harry as she pointed at him.

"I know you!" she said with a grin. "I met you before!"

Harry looked thoroughly bewildered at this, as _how could she remember?_

"Erm.." he replied eloquently.

Hermione, who had been caught up on the Lillian situation on their Diagon Alley shopping trip and the train gossip looked at Lillian keenly.

"I thought you were obliviated," she said rather bluntly. "How could you remember that?"

Lillian's reaction to those words was immediate as her eyes widened in shock and she flinched as though she were struck.

"No!" she cried out.

"What - " Hermione started to ask, looking startled at the reaction.

"No no no!" Lillian continued as she covered her ears to further block out any mention of the spell. "I don't wanna forget!"[3]

She gave Professor Lockhart a look of sheer panic and desperation.

"Don't let me forget!" she said in a rush, although her hands were covering her ears.

"My dear," Lockhart started and then stopped as he realized she couldn't hear him.

He looked at her sadly and then shook his head with a sigh.

"I believe we need some time alone," he said to the trio. "Please excuse us."

As he departed back into the castle with Lillian in his arms, Harry glanced back to see that something on Lillian was glowing brightly.

What the..

"I didn't mean to - " Hermione started apologetically and then cut herself off with a frown. "Oh for heaven sakes, the sky was clear a minute ago!"

Harry looked up to see that dark clouds were gathering and it looked like it was going to storm. With a sigh, he, Ron and Hermione hurried off to the greenhouses.

It was an interesting Herbology lesson that day, with pouring rain pounding the windows and loud thunder booming as lightning crackled in the sky. Fortunately, their magical earmuffs blocked out all sound.

It was as they were all running across the grounds back into the the castle in the rain that Hermione remembered the Sorting Hat song and shivered.

 _The weather will be changing suddenly with time._

Could this possibly be the work of the mysterious Seasonals?

* * *

Lunch was rather uneventful and as Harry looked at the staff table, he could see Lillian listlessly playing with her food while Lockhart spoke quietly to her. Harry saw she would nod every now and then, but she obviously had something on her mind and didn't feel much like talking.

If Harry had been sitting closer he would have been able to see that Lillian's eyes were a little red from crying. Once again Harry was surprised to see Hermione eating at top speed and he hardly had time to ask her what was going on before she gave him a rather terse "Library" and dashed off before the other two had barely made any headway into their own lunches.

Harry shared a look with Ron before the two returned to their own meals.

At the staff table, Professor Dumbledore was trying to get Professor Snape's attention, but Severus apparently was too busy gazing down the staff table to notice.

When lunch was over and the staff began to rise, he pressed a small vial of a calming draught into Lockhart's hands.

"She looks as if she could use it," Snape explained and then swept off without another word.

Professor Dumbledore sighed as he saw his potions professor leave and he gazed down the table at Professor Lockhart and Lillian himself.

The castle wards had gone off yet _again_ and still they were no closer to discovering the source of the mysterious power. The fact that this strong magic always seemed to involve a thunderstorm was very perplexing.

* * *

One calming draught later, Lillian and Professor Lockhart were sitting in the classroom while waiting for the second year class to begin. Lockhart might have considered going outside, but the bad weather was still persisting and so the thought hadn't even entered his head. Instead, he and Lillian enjoyed their little break quietly.

The second years,[4] however, had gone off to an empty classroom to have a study hall of sorts since they couldn't go outside for their break. Harry was keenly aware that a particularly small student kept glancing over at him and fidgeting. Finally, the boy made his way over to Harry, with his eyes shining in admiration.

"Y-you're Harry Potter, aren't you?" the boy asked breathlessly.

Harry felt his mood drop a little. He really hated being admired for his so-called defeat of Voldemort. As far as he was concerned, it was all his mother's doing. The fact that the entire wizarding world seemed to ignore the way his parents died and admire him instead was irksome as well.

"Yes," Harry finally said with a sigh. So much for studying.

"I'm Colin Creevey," the boy introduced himself. "I'm a first year! It was ever so exciting when I found out that all the stuff I could do was magic."

Colin held up an old-fashioned camera that had a strap that went around his neck.

"I've been taking all sorts of photos to show my dad back home. He's a milkman and he couldn't believe I was magic either."

"You should get some pictures of the castle from the stands on the Quidditch pitch," Harry said suddenly, trying to derail the conversation a little, as he had a feeling what was going to be coming up soon and he wanted no part of it.

Colin's eyes lit up and he grinned at Harry appreciatively.

"That's a good idea! I'd get a really great view of the castle then!"

"As _fascinating_ as this conversation is, Potter, some of us are trying to study," Malfoy drawled from where he was sitting a few desks away. Crabbe and Goyle smirked as they saw Harry glare in their direction.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said as Colin frowned at them.

"Yeah, you're just jealous!" Colin piped up.

Malfoy rolled his eyes at this.

"Of what, his scar? I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special myself."

Harry looked a little uncomfortable as for the first time in his life, he found himself somewhat agreeing with Malfoy. What did that mean? Malfoy was a Slytherin, and he was one of the meanest ones there was.

 _Ah,_ a voice in his mind piped up, _But you were almost a Slytherin too._

Harry firmly ignored the voice as Ron glared at Malfoy too.

"Shut your face or I'll shut it for you," Ron said threateningly as he went to draw his wand. It was in particularly bad shape as it had been mended with some borrowed spellotape.

Harry was about to suggest that perhaps fighting in their study hall was a bad idea, but Professor Flitwick, who had volunteered to look after them, squeaked from the front of the room.

"I hope you're not fighting boys!" he called out.

Ron grudgingly put his wand away as Malfoy smirked in their direction before turning to the front.

"Oh no, Professor," Malfoy said in what Harry thought was a really smarmy voice. "Wouldn't dream of it."

All in all, by the time the bell rang to signal the end of break, Ron was in a very bad mood. He grumbled all the way to Professor Lockhart's classroom and didn't even notice when Colin Creevey tagged along.

"Er," Harry said, as he _did_ notice Colin. "Don't you have to get to class?"

"Well," Colin said as he held up his camera hopefully. "I was wondering - "

But he was cut off as Professor Lockhart threw open the classroom door and ushered them all inside.

"Bye Colin," Harry said with relief as he and Ron hurried inside.

Hermione, who had skipped the study session in favor of spending the entire time in the library, turned up just before the bell rang to signal the start of the lesson and hurriedly joined Harry and Ron at the front of the classroom. She noticed that there were a small table and chair beside Professor Lockhart's desk and little Lillian was seated at it, quietly looking at a book. She frowned a little at the sight since wasn't Lillian too young to be reading? What was she reading anyway?

Her reverie was cut short, however, when Professor Lockhart began to speak.

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Professor Lockhart beamed at them all, flashing them all a dazzling smile. "Here you will learn how to defend yourself against dastardly spells and dangerous creatures!"

Ron, Harry could tell, was trying hard not to snicker. Harry couldn't help but feel the same way. Who used a word like _dastardly?_

"I see you all have purchased my books. Good, good!" Professor Lockhart said. "Now, I want to start off our lesson with a little quiz to see where you are all at. I heard your last professor was a little..unusual.. so I would like to gauge what you know."

Lockhart gave a flick of his wand and a pile of papers flew through the air and deposited themselves onto each student's desk.

"You have half an hour, now.. begin!" he said with a flourish as he went to take a seat at his desk.

Harry looked down at his desk to see questions such as:

 _1\. Are Yetis colorblind? Why is this important?_  
 _2\. When are werewolves considered their most dangerous?_  
 _3\. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?_

Then over a few more sides of paper, to:

 _51\. Give me an example of a spell you learned last year that can be used defensively._  
 _52\. What can you tell me about Centaurs?_  
 _53\. What lives in the lake by Hogwarts?_

and then lastly,

 _54\. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday and what would his ideal gift be?_

Harry stared in disbelief at some questions and looked puzzled at others. Some questions were really stupid, while others seemed far more intelligent. And then, in a sudden flash of understanding, he thought he knew why those stupid questions were there. Professor Lockhart put them in there to throw them off! And, if the students had actually read the books, they'd probably pick up some details like what his favorite color was.

Harry looked at the first question again and realized that one of the books was called _Year with the Yeti._ Harry felt his stomach twist a little as he realized he hadn't opened any of the Lockhart books at all. Feeling a sense of doom, he tried to answer the questions as best he could.

"Time's up!" Professor Lockhart called and with another wave of his wand, the tests all magically zoomed into a big pile and right to his hand.

Professor Lockhart rifled through the papers quickly and tsked.

"Tut, tut," he said with a shake of his head, "Hardly any of you know that yetis are _not_ completely colorblind. I state that in chapter one! And a good deal of you must realize that werewolves are their most dangerous on the full moon, of course!"

At the last statement, several students flushed in embarrassment or else looked confused. Some hadn't even realized that werewolves were real. Some, like Harry, hadn't opened their books at all yet and it obviously showed.

Professor Lockhart paused at one particular test and looked at it very carefully.

"Oh, but it seems Miss Granger knows my favorite color is lilac and gave me a very good explanation of how _wingardium leviosa_ can be used defensively against a troll! Good girl! In fact.." here he continued to peruse the test, "she received full marks! Take ten points for Gryffindor."

Hermione turned very pink as Lockhart flashed a smile at her, having spotted her in the front row.

"And now, I was considering a more practical lesson, but I think instead we will go over your exams. So if you will please get out parchment and quill and take notes.."

Harry dutifully took notes during the lesson, finding it very informative. For instance, he learned it was not wise to wear bright colors in the Himalayas, as the yetis were actually attracted to them and had a tendency to attack whoever was wearing them.[5]

After the lesson, the students all packed up their books and notes as they chatted about the various things they had learned. Professor Lockhart hadn't just lectured, he had encouraged them all the participate and ask questions. Some students, such as Seamus Finnegan, couldn't help but snicker as they asked Professor Lockhart what his second favorite color was, and to everyone's astonishment, the Professor had answered that it was pink.

Lillian had remained fairly quiet during the lesson, but had started when yetis were mentioned and frowned when it was stated that they would attack people and that they lived in the Himalayas. Lillian was pretty sure that wasn't true, but she couldn't quite remember why. For some reason, the name "Phil" popped up in her head, but no flood of memories accompanied it this time. Maybe she'd hit her memory quota for the day?

While Lillian was pondering this, as the other students began to leave, Professor Lockhart called out,

"Harry, could I have a word?"

Harry froze in his tracks and looked over at the professor in concern.

"Er.. alright," he finally answered.

"Move along now, Mister Weasley, Miss Granger," Professor Lockhart said in amusement as he saw Harry's two friends lag behind.

At his slight admonishment, Hermione turned pink again and Ron took the opportunity to tut at her as they left the classroom. (Ron had been looking for an opportunity to tut at Hermione for quite some time, as she often took pleasure in tutting at them; it was only fair that they got to do it back to her.)

Professor Lockhart turned to Lillian as Harry approached him with trepidation.

"Lillian, could you be a dear and go into our quarters for a few minutes? I'll come and get you when I'm done here."

Lillian huffed, as she had been very curious to see what Gilderoy was going to say to Harry, but she dutifully packed up her wooden box and left the classroom and headed off to their quarters.

"Now, Harry," Professor Lockhart said as he handed Harry back his test, "I must admit, I'm concerned about your answers - or lack thereof - on our exam. I realize I have given you a lot of books to review, but I feel that they will help you on your way in Defense."

Harry couldn't help but look at his feet as Professor Lockhart began speaking. Obviously, Lockhart had picked up on the fact he hadn't looked at his books at all. True, for a good portion of the summer he hadn't been able to, but he did have that whole month with the Weasleys. Ron hadn't looked at any of his books either, Harry realized. Did Ron have better marks than him?

"So, while I didn't want to single you out in class, I feel that I really must assign you extra work to make certain that you're taking everything in. So in addition to the reading assignment I gave the class, I want you to write me an essay that is.. hm.. one roll of parchment long. You will pick a creature mentioned in one of my books and tell me all about it and what you should do, defensively, if you should run across such a creature. You have until next Monday to research, so I fully expect a quality essay, young man!" Professor Lockhart said as he shook a finger at Harry. "Understand?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said as he glanced up at Lockhart. "And.. and I'm sorry I didn't do better on the quiz. But.. um.. _why_ did you have things like your favorite color in there?"

At this, Professor Lockhart laughed and gave Harry a hearty wink.

"I have to make certain my students are paying attention to their reading, now don't I?"

* * *

While Lockhart was having his talk with Harry, Lillian stood in front of the magical window in her room and looked outside as the rain continued to pour down. She sighed as she watched it. She really wished it would go away -

\- And just like that, the rain tapered off and the clouds parted to reveal the sun.

Lillian gaped at the sight, as the weather turned bright and sunny in no time at all. She could hear the birds chirping merrily and never in her life had she wanted to go outside so much. She glanced back at the door to her bedroom. Gilderoy wouldn't mind, would he?

Lillian knew he would, but a determined look crossed her face.

She didn't care.

She was going out.

* * *

[1] Lockhart's referring to things such as that whole bed set he purchased for his cottage in the country. He wouldn't get rid of all the toys and things he bought for her.

[2] I hate how Remus is a total non-entity until _Prisoner of Azkaban._ They mention Scabbers' missing toe early on and even Sirius is mentioned in the first book! So I decided Remus should be a little more involved in Harry's life. I also hate how Remus disappears just as fast out of Harry's life. Bad Remus!

[3] Lillian's freakout might seem a bit extreme here, but subconsciously she associates the word with her total amnesia, so she's developed an understandable phobia of hearing the word _obliviate._

[4] That wasn't a typo there. Colin's using his stalker powers again when he turns up in a second year only study session. Can you imagine how much trouble he had to have been in from being super late to all his classes (or missing them entirely) just to stalk Harry?

[5] Another example of how the wizards have gotten it wrong. Just imagine if they could meet Phil. :P

Author's Note: I switched from using asterisks to numbers, since I didn't realize I had so many notations and the amount of asterisks was getting ridiculous. Anyway, I hope even though there wasn't a ton of plot going on that you guys still liked the chapter. I have to admit, I had a little difficulty coming up with non-incompetent test questions there. If you're curious why the trio got front row seats this time, it's because Lockhart hasn't been too much of a git to Harry, so he doesn't have any reason to completely avoid Lockhart right now.

I hope I did alright with the whole Malfoy/Harry/Colin scene. I wanted to still include it, but things happening changed the location of the scene. Unlike in the book, I'm not going to just skip right to Halloween. The book also skips quite a few months later on, so I'll probably show what was going on then. We'll see! It depends on what all is happening at the time.

I haven't decided how much of a role the Guardians are going to take. For now, they will have their cameos that involve their respective holidays/seasons. We've already seen Jasper, so August will probably turn up toward the end of the book when Summer starts to roll around. We probably won't see much of Jack until he turns up at Hogwarts.

I hope you don't mind that we focused a little more on Harry here. I hope I didn't have him too OOC either. I feel like Harry's entirely too _normal_ for how much he's gone through, and his getting emotional over having clothes that fit him is very sad, but I felt completely justified. If you're curious why he wasn't more emotional when he got the jumper for Christmas last year, I figure it's because Ron was there. Plus he did get distracted by the invisibility cloak.

Anyway, I can't wait to hear what you guys thought and as always, if you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know!


	11. Chapter Eleven: The Whomping Willow

Author's Note: Sorry that this took a little longer to get out than I originally thought. I had a small writer's block when all of Hogwarts lay open to Lillian and I had to decide what sort of mischief she should get into. For those of you who have me on author alert, you'll notice that my muse totally wandered off in a different direction. Whoops? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Reviews:

Fenghuang0296: Thanks! :)

Crossover Junkie: That's precisely why I had Lillian so drawn to go outside. I figured Seasonals don't like being cooped up a lot and to go from being outside all the time to essentially being locked up in a castle 24/7 would be very stifling for her. That is an interesting thought about boggarts. I have read fanfniction before where the boggarts are actually creations of Pitch's, but I don't think that will be the case here. I'm thinking they'll be magical creatures that happen to work in Pitch's favor in terms of fear. I can imagine Pitch would be especially affected by them, but being used to working with fear so much would also enable him to better counteract them. Hm! I'll have to think more about that.

M.v.j.M.: If by "soon" you meant 11 days later, then yes! Soon!

KijoKuroi: Thanks. :) I thought later on that Snape's actions were a bit OOC, but oh well. It's hard to keep him in character.

SimpleWritter44: Lol! I'm glad that this was the one bright spot in the horror that is your finals, but I hope it didn't distract you too much.

Now on with the story!

 **Chapter Eleven: The Whomping Willow**

Lillian didn't have much time to contemplate going outside before Gilderoy was calling out to her that his next class was going to be starting soon. She sighed as she gave the outside one last wistful look and turned to leave her room and their quarters, to head back into Gilderoy's classroom.

To Lillian's complete and utter boredom, Gilderoy gave _all_ his classes a quiz and spent the whole class time going over them as he subtly pointed out helpful things in his books that pertained to the test. After that, he gave the class a reading assignment and sent them on their way. Lillian had at first been interested in the classes, but after mostly hearing the same things over and over, she started tuning out Professor Lockhart and read her own books. By the time the last class of the day had rolled around, she was doodling on a piece of parchment with a quill looking as if she could fall asleep from boredom.

And so the next few days persisted in much the same way, and much to her disgust, Lillian hadn't yet had an opportunity to sneak outside. In fact, she didn't have any chance whatsoever until that Saturday when Professor Lockhart took the opportunity to sleep in for a change. Lillian, who was always an early riser, had woken up when the sky was just turning pink.

She grinned to herself at her amazing plan. She could sneak outside, play around for a few hours and then be back in their quarters before Gilderoy would even wake up. It was _perfect._

And because she was _not_ going to the dungeons, there was absolutely no chance that she would get lost. She hastily got dressed in her favorite pink dress and put on a black cloak (to be stealthy, although Gilderoy would be appalled that she was pairing a pastel pink dress with such a dark color) as she knew the morning air would be chilly. She completed her outfit by brushing her curls and tying them back with a matching pink ribbon.

She very quietly tiptoed out from her room after putting her shoes on and was happy when she heard faint snores coming from Gilderoy's room. She had to cover her mouth to stop a giggle, he would have no idea!

Her plan was going perfectly until she reached the Entrance Hall.

"What are you doing here?" an amused voice asked her.

Lillian whirled around to see none other than Harry Potter looking at her with his broomstick slung over a shoulder. He was wearing robes that were different from his school ones, she noticed.

"Ah.." Lillian said as she fidgeted guiltily. "I was going outside."

"By yourself?" Harry asked as he adjusted his glasses. He had a feeling that Professor Lockhart wouldn't be happy about that.

"Ohh, you can come sit with me!" Colin piped up happily. He had been standing next to Harry as Harry spoke to Lillian. "I was going to watch Harry practice Quidditch!"

"What's that?" Lillian asked. She thought Gilderoy might have mentioned it once, but she couldn't remember.

"It's _amazing!_ " Colin said breathlessly. "It's a game played in the air on broomsticks!"

"Wow!" Lillian said as her eyes went wide with excitement.

"C'mon!" Colin said as he grabbed her hand and dragged her outside.

Harry shook his head at the pair, but he had to get to the locker rooms. Wood would be wondering what kept him.

A few minutes later, Colin was seated with Lillian in the stands at a perfect place to get pictures from.

"I haven't gotten any pictures of Harry yet, but I just know if I manage to get a good one that he'll sign it for me," Colin confided in Lillian.

Lillian nodded absently as she looked around. Where was everyone? As she looked down at the field below, she could clearly see a line of spring flowers that went in the direction of the stands.

Whoops.

She waited patiently (or impatiently) for Harry and his team to make their grand entrance, but now ten minutes had gone by and still no one was coming out. Colin wasn't helping matters either as he prattled on and on and _on.._

Lillian glanced at him. She had at first been participating in the conversation, but as she grew more restless had stopped saying anything at all and he _still_ kept prattling on forever and showed no signs of stopping.

 _Wizards!_ Lillian thought irritably to herself and then paused. Wasn't _she_ a wizard too? Er.. a witch?

She frowned to herself and then shrugged. She could curse wizards if she wanted to. A lot of them seemed pretty silly to her anyway.

Another glance at Colin told her he probably wouldn't mind if she wandered away. Besides, she really didn't want to waste all her outdoor time waiting for Harry. She noticed that the sky was growing ever brighter and that she should probably be inside not long after it had fully risen or else she would get caught by either Gilderoy or someone else.

She crawled unnoticed into the row behind Colin and stealthily snuck away and down the stairs as she left the Gryffindor side of the stands. She looked at her flowers in dismay and concentrated hard on them. She thought very, _very_ hard about them going away, but they didn't do anything at all. With a sigh, Lillian walked carefully around the edge of the pitch. Hopefully, no one would notice her flowers then.

She looked around once she had cleared the pitch to see where she wanted to go. She soon spotted the greenhouses and started to head in that direction, but something waving in the distance caught her attention instead. She realized that it was a rather large tree, but some of its branches looked like they had bandages on it.

A small part of her wanted to laugh at the absurdness of this, but the rest of her was more concerned about the tree. What had hurt it so badly? Would it be alright? Letting her concern overtake her better judgment, she hurried off to the tree, a trail of spring flowers sprouting up from the ground in her wake.

As she approached the tree, it started to wave the branches that weren't bandaged around in agitation, but she just frowned at it and placed her hands on her hips, not noticing as she did so that her bracelet glowed a little.

"Shame on you!" she scolded the tree. "You should be a nice tree and not attack kids!"

The tree, of course, couldn't speak but it could recognize the spring magic pouring off of little Lillian. If trees could be surprised, this one certainly would be. Wasn't it Autumn?

The tree wouldn't dare to hurt a Seasonal, however, and settled down at once as it stopped trying to flail its branches at Lillian.

As Lillian calmed down, her bracelet stopped glowing. Now that the tree had settled down she was much happier. She smiled at it and eagerly ran up to it.

"You're such a good tree!" she cooed at it. "Yes, you are!"

As she spoke she gently patted the trunk. She blinked suddenly and jerked her hand away from the trunk. She stared down at her hand, which almost looked.. red.

Why was it red?

Frowning a little, she placed her palm back on the trunk. She whimpered a little as she felt something _awful._ When she pulled her hand away again, she noticed her hand was redder than before and she stared wide-eyed at it.

She looked from her palm back to the tree and then back to her palm.

Could she _feel_ its pain?[1]

Her face fell as she looked distraught. The tree must hurt so much because her hand was certainly hurting her when she touched the tree. With a sniffle, she looked back at the tree. Tears filled her eyes and she flung her arms out suddenly at the tree as she wrapped it as best she could in a hug.

The tree froze for a moment, perhaps at the shock of actually being _hugged_ by a _human_ , but then it gently lowered its nearest branches to Lillian and gently wrapped them around her, touched by her concern.

As Lillian cried for the poor tree, her bracelet unconsciously began to glow again and the Whomping Willow could feel the Seasonal magic pouring out of Lillian and into itself.

Lillian hiccuped and stopped crying when she looked down and suddenly noticed a bunch of spring flowers blooming down at the base of the tree. She looked confused, but then a bright glow caught her eye and she looked over to notice that her _bracelet_ was _glowing._

Lillian gave a huge gasp of surprise, but almost as soon as she noticed it, it stopped glowing. Lillian stared in shock at her bracelet, which now glittered innocently in the sunlight as it looked as ordinary as ever. She looked at her bracelet and then back to the tree, who gently pat her on the back with a branch as it released her from its embrace.

When she pulled away from the tree this time, Lillian noticed that the pain seemed to be much less than it was before. Had she used her magic to help the tree? She looked back up at the tree again, as its branches swayed innocently and she smiled.

"I'm glad you're better, Mr. Tree," she said softly to it.

Lillian let out a surprised shriek followed by a giggle when one of its branches swooped down under her and lifted her into the air. Her legs were straddling it and she laughed as it began to swing back and forth with her along for the ride.

* * *

While Lillian was playing with the Whomping Willow, she never noticed how much lighter the sky was getting or how the sun had risen. While Harry was _finally_ getting outside to start his practice, Gilderoy Lockhart was frantic.

He had woken yet _again_ to see that little Lillian was gone. This was _so_ not good. What sort of guardian lost their child _twice?_

Trying to save his reputation by not sounding the alarm at once, he decided to check down at the Great Hall to see if Lillian went to grab some breakfast for herself. He didn't really think so, but desperation made him decide that it was a possibility, so he hastily got dressed and put only a dollop of hair potion in his hair, instead of the usual two, since he was in such a rush.

He dashed down the stairs and was nearly at the entrance to the Great Hall when he ran headlong into someone.

"Do watch where you're going," Professor Snape snapped irritably at Lockhart.

Lockhart gulped and gave a nervous smile to Professor Snape, the absolute last person he wanted to see when he had lost little Lillian again.

"Sorry, Severus," Lockhart said nervously as he straightened his own robes.

Professor Snape took in Lockhart's nervous state and then arched an eyebrow at him.

"Where, exactly, is your charge?" he asked with a sneer.

"Ah," Lockhart said as he flashed another nervous smile at Professor Snape. "I believe.. She's.. ah.."

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Lockhart.

" _Don't_ tell me you've managed to lose her again," he said in a dangerous tone.

"Y-you see," Lockhart stammered, "the thing is.. is.."

Before Professor Snape could go on a tirade on how imbecilic he was for losing a small child twice, the large front doors of the castle burst open as an older Gryffindor student rushed inside.

"PROFESSOR!" he cried out as he rushed up to both Snape and Lockhart. "You have to help her!"

Instead of yelling at Lockhart, Professor Snape directed his sneer at the rash Gryffindor.

" _What_ are you yelling about?" he sneered, giving the Gryffindor one of his more frightening glares.

The Gryffindor, which turned out to be Lee Jordan, pointed at Lockhart frantically.

"His kid's getting attacked by the Whomping Willow!"

* * *

Oliver Wood had been outraged when their practice had been cut short by the Slytherin Quidditch team storming the field.

"I booked the field!" he raged at the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, Marcus Flint, as he landed with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. "I booked it!"

"Ah," Flint said with a smirk, as he produced a note from his robe pocket. "But I have a note specially signed from Professor Snape."

As Flint read the note out loud, the rest of the Slytherin team parted to reveal none other than Draco Malfoy, who had a huge smirk on his face.

Harry glared angrily at them as Ron, Hermione, and Colin stormed up to join them.

"Oh, look," Flint drawled, "A field invasion."

"What's _he_ doing here?" Ron asked in disgust as he spotted Malfoy.

It was shortly after Malfoy nearly got cursed by Ron that they all heard a shrill shriek. All the students stared at one another frantically (yes, even the Slytherins) except for Ron, who began to vomit slugs everywhere.

Luckily they had Hermione there to take charge, as in this situation she was able to keep her head. She turned to Oliver Wood as she avoided the slugs pouring out of Ron.

"You go see what that was and we'll take care of Ron," she said to the older Gryffindor.

Oliver nodded and looked relieved that he wouldn't have to have anything to do with the whole vomiting slugs situation.

"Ohh, hold him still Harry!" Colin eagerly said as he began to click away with his camera.

"We don't want a picture, Colin!" Harry said angrily as he bravely grabbed a hold of Ron and began to help him towards Hagrid's hut. "C'mon, Hagrid's is closest."

Colin's face fell at that but perked up when he saw that Oliver Wood and the rest of the team were hurrying toward where they had heard the shriek coming from. He patted his trusty camera and hurried after them, leaving the Slytherins to themselves.

Flint glanced at the Gryffindors rushing off to face who-knew-what and scoffed.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he said gruffly to his team.

Draco glanced at the retreating backs of the Gryffindor team but dutifully mounted his broom as he began to get ready for practice.

Oliver put on a spurt of speed as he rushed to the sound and realized that they were headed right for the Whomping Willow.

"Lee!" Oliver cried out, calling to Lee Jordan who had joined the spectators during practice and had been waiting for the twins to be done. "Go get someone! That was Lockhart's kid we heard and we're heading right for the Whomping Willow!"

Lee Jordan nodded as he stopped in his tracks and reversed back to the castle.

"Right!" he called as he ran as fast as he could.

By the time he returned with Professors Snape and Lockhart, the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team was standing near the Whomping Willow with their jaws dropped, staring in surprise at what they saw.

Both Snape and Lockhart had their wands drawn, but what good they would do against a _tree_ , they didn't know.

"What is going on?!" Professor Snape demanded as he stared at the spectacle that was Lillian.

She was perched on a branch and was giggling uncontrollably as the branch gently swung her back and forth.

"Higher!" she called out to the Whomping Willow, who obliged by swinging its branch a little more forcefully, swinging little Lillian higher in the air.

"L-Lillian!" Lockhart gasped out with wide eyes.

As soon as she heard Lockhart, both Lillian and the Whomping Willow froze as Lillian turned to stare at their audience guiltily.

Lillian paled when she saw both Gilderoy and Professor Snape were there.

"What are you doing?!" Lockhart cried, worry etched into every syllable. "Get down from there!"

Lillian flinched at his tone and the Whomping Willow started to pull Lillian away from the perceived threat, but she patted its branch.

"It's ok," she told it softly.

The branch paused, as if uncertain, but as Lillian continued to pat it soothingly it slowly lowered Lillian to the ground.

Once she was close enough to the ground, she easily slipped off and landed on her feet. She very reluctantly shuffled her way over to Professors Lockhart and Snape and as soon as she was out of harm's way, she was snatched up in a pair of arms.

"Idiot girl!" Snape snarled at her as he began to check her over for any injury. "What a foolish thing to do! Do you _realize_ what that tree could have done to you?!"

The Whomping Willow, having heard this, began to wave its branches around in agitation at the implication that it would dare to harm a Seasonal. Unfortunately, as most people didn't realize that magical plants had feelings, all they saw was how dangerous it was and hastened to move away from it.

"Severus, as Lillian is still my charge - " Lockhart began hesitantly, but Snape had had enough.

He glared angrily at Lockhart.

"If you think for one moment that I'm about to let someone as feeble-minded as _you_ look after my _cousin_ , then you have another thing coming!" Snape declared with a dramatic swish of his cloak as he turned and began to storm off to the castle with Lillian in his arms.

Lillian looked up at Professor Snape in distress to Professor Lockhart, who had started after them.

"W-Wait!" Lockhart cried out. "Severus!"

As the Gryffindor Quidditch team all watched this with wide eyes, two of its members spoke up.

"Professor Snape - "

" - has a cousin?" the Weasley twins asked faintly.

* * *

Lunch that day was particularly interesting, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall. As Harry's gaze swept up automatically to the staff table, he noticed instantly little Lillian was seated next to Professor Snape, who was glaring ominously down the table to Lockhart, who was looking particularly depressed. Lillian herself had tears silently slipping down her cheeks as she sat on an enormous pillow which had been transfigured for her from a sympathetic McGonagall, as she had entered before the trio after giving Harry and Ron the details of their detention.

Lillian looked down at her lap as her lunch, which consisted of a thick ham and cheese sandwich and soup, sat untouched.

A small sob drew Professor Snape's gaze away from Lockhart and he looked down at little Lillian, who looked very upset. He sighed softly as he thought about what he should do. Obviously, the child cared deeply for the idiot, but she could _not_ be allowed to remain in his care, not when he had lost her twice already.

She could have _died_ for Merlin's sake!

Mind resolute, Professor Snape picked Lillian up into his arms as soon as lunch was finished and stalked past Lockhart.

"A word," he said tersely to the Professor.

Lockhart looked up a little hopefully as he followed after Professor Snape out of the Great Hall and down to the dungeons.

Harry exchanged a look with Ron and Hermione.

"What was all that about?" he asked, but as he did so Fred and George came over, each twin budging Ron and Hermione over so that they could sit on either side of Harry.

"You missed - " Fred began,

" - everything!" George finished.

"Professor Snape swooped in - " Fred continued,

" - like an overgrown bat, mind you, " George finished for his twin with a grin,

" - and snatched up Lillian - "

" - after yelling at Lockhart - "

" - saying that an idiot like him -"

" - couldn't watch his _cousin_ \- "

"Wait!" Harry interrupted, getting slightly dizzy from the tennis match that was watching the twins speak from either side of him. "She's Professor Snape's _cousin?_ "

* * *

Down in the dungeons, Lillian was placed on the couch and soon she, Lockhart, and Professor Snape all had a steaming cup of tea on a saucer.

Lillian looked down at her cup and felt her heart clench as she remembered sitting at a strange table with another dark-haired man, drinking tea in much happier circumstances. Never had she ever felt so lost, and so homesick before.

She went to take a sip of tea, but her hands were trembling too much, so she gingerly set the cup back down on its saucer, which was sitting on a low coffee table in front of the couch.

Before Professor Snape could even open his mouth to begin speaking, Lillian had burst into tears again.

"It's all my fault!" she sobbed. "I knew I shouldn't have snuck out, but I just wanted to go outside! I'm so sorry! I won't ever do it again! Please let me stay with Gilderoy!"

"Lillian," Gilderoy said, his voice breaking. He never knew that she cared so much for him, and now he was just realizing how very empty his life would be without her.

Professor Snape looked down at his little cousin and felt perhaps, the tiniest bit of guilt. He probably should have found a better way to bring this situation about, but it was overdue. He was, after all, the child's true guardian while Lockhart was merely a substitute. That's why he was a _temporary_ guardian. It was never set in stone that she would be with the fool forever.

As Lillian continued to sob, her bracelet began to glow yet again and all of them jumped at the loud crack of thunder.

"Not again!" Lockhart said as he put his head in his hands.

"What do you mean?" Professor Snape asked as he noticed the glowing bracelet out of the corner of his eye. Apparently, Lockhart and the child were too distraught to notice.

"It's her accidental magic," Lockhart said miserably. "Whenever she gets upset, it acts up and keeps causing it to rain."

Professor Snape's sharp gaze went from Lockhart to Lillian.

 _The Seasonals are about._

Could this mean..?

His revelation was cut short, however, when Lillian's cries took on a more hysterical pitch. He swiftly stood and disappeared into his potions lab for a moment and returned with a vial of calming draught. He put a healthy dose into her tea and pushed the cup into her hands.

"Drink," he said softly to her. "It'll help."

Sniffling as she did so, Lillian took a small sip of tea and instantly felt calmer.

Noting with a roll of his eyes that Lockhart was fairing no better (although his eyes were dry), Professor Snape put a dollop of calming draught into Lockhart's tea and shoved the cup into his hands.

Murmuring his thanks, Lockhart took a shaky sip of tea.

"Now," Professor Snape said as he took a deep breath and took a calming sip of his own tea. "You know, Lockhart, that I am Lillian's rightful guardian."

Lockhart shot Professor Snape an irritable glance over the rim of his teacup, despite the calming draught.

"You only know that because of the howler," he muttered. "You couldn't even open your mail."

Professor Snape valiantly ignored the jibe.

"I think that in light of this latest.. _incident_.. that it would be prudent of me to take custody of Lillian at once."

"No!" Lillian cried out as she almost dropped her teacup.

"Whether or not you would wish it were otherwise," Professor Snape said to Lillian with an unreadable expression, "I am your only living relative. Therefore, your guardianship would naturally fall to me."

Lillian opened her mouth to further protest, but Professor Snape interrupted.

" _However,_ " he said testily as he cut her off, "I see no reason to cut you off entirely from Lockhart. Seeing as I need to add an extra room to my quarters for you, you can remain with him for the time being. But at the first sign of any trouble or doubt to your well-being, I _will_ make certain that you never see him again. Is that clear?"

Both Lillian and Professor Lockhart nodded their heads at this and Professor Snape snorted as he took another sip of tea.

* * *

Dinner was a much quieter affair with Lillian sitting back in the accursed seat attached to the table by Gilderoy, but she was much too happy to be back with him to care about it too much. She noticed Harry kept looking over at her so she smiled at him happily and waved.

Harry was relieved to see that Lillian was looking much happier and gave her a small wave back. All too soon dinner was over and it wasn't long before Harry found himself dragging his feet to Professor Lockhart's office.

Lillian, however, found herself back in the dungeons. She thought Professor Snape didn't have enough time to get a room ready for her. She thought she'd be spending a few days with Professor Lockhart at least.

She looked over at Professor Snape curiously from her spot on the couch.

"How come I'm down here?" she asked him.

"Professor Lockhart had to oversee a detention, and I seem to recall an inquisitive child like you can't be left alone for even five minutes."

Lillian blushed at the accusing tone of Professor Snape's voice.

"I can too!" she said, but even to her, it sounded feeble.

Professor Snape shook his head and before Lillian knew it, her dress had been transfigured into another emerald green nightgown. She blinked as she looked down at it and therefore missed Professor Snape fetching her the green and silver blanket from the couch.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to spend the night out here, seeing as I still lack adequate supplies for you," Professor Snape said as Lillian's eyes wandered over to the hallway that housed the other doors of Professor Snape's quarters.

She thought she could see an extra door there, but realized that Professor Snape probably didn't have a bed or anything else for her. She tilted her head curiously at it before turning to look at Professor Snape as she wrapped herself up in the warm and fuzzy blanket.

"Why don't you borrow Gilderoy's stuff?" she asked.

Professor Snape started to scoff, but Lillian cut him off.

"What else is he going to do with it?" she asked him logically.

Professor Snape knew this was true, but he wasn't about to ask that moron for anything, or admit that he lacked anything in terms of Lillian's care.

"We'll see," he replied as Lillian huffed at his response.

She remembered hearing this quite a few times and wondered if all adults had to say this.

 _They probably have it in a handbook,_ she grouched as she went to get more comfortable.

* * *

 **Edit:** I forget everything! I swear!

[1] This was borrowed from _Ferngully: The Last Rainforest_ where Crysta is able to touch a tree and feel its pain. This is also where Lillian gets her ability to have spring flowers magically sprout up behind her when she walks.

Author's Note: I swear, my only thought was "Lillian should go see the Whomping Willow, it would be so cute!" It's not my fault that everyone freaked out and got the wrong idea from it. Really. When I was writing the scene I didn't predict that it would cause so much drama. Or that Professor Snape would be so fiercely protective of his last living relative. (So far as he knows.) I was peeking at the book in terms of where the plot heads and I think it pretty much just skips right up until October/Halloween so the next few chapters will probably be leading up to that. We'll see how Lillian gets settled in with Professor Snape and how Professor Snape deals with Lockhart still in the picture. Honestly, the thought of them both having a sort of an unwilling shared custody with Lillian is really adorable.

For those of you who are disappointed that the Harry Potter parts are pretty much going along the same as cannon at this point, don't worry. I'll change things up. And for those of you who are appalled at me skipping such an important scene in the book (Harry's detention), we'll see that in the beginning of the next chapter. I also glossed over the fight with Malfoy because we all know what's said and the less lines I have from the book in this, the better! Also, on the Slytherins: I figured they would be worried about Lillian in the sense that they don't want a child to get hurt, but Flint wouldn't be worried enough to actually _do_ anything, thus his forcing his team to continue on with practice.

As always, if you guys have any suggestions/comments please feel free to let me know! I also want to give a special shoutout to all the follows/favs!

 **Edit:** Fixed a huge plothole. Whoops!


	12. Chapter Twelve: Playtime

Author's Note: I'm embarrassed to admit how long it actually took me to write this chapter. I had most of it written out for a long time and then I would add bits and pieces to it every once in awhile. I do have to say that waiting does help me a bit though, since I might not have thought to put certain things in this chapter, like the twins. So yay?

Anyway, this chapter is a little longer, so I hope you'll enjoy that. I threw a little bit of everything into it and we have a cameo of a certain someone who may or may not officially turn up at some point. We'll see. :)

So.. reviews! From.. December. The guilt!

KijoKuroi: Thanks. :) I just had to throw the mention of Phil in there. I love Phil.

SimpleWriter44: Merry extremely late Christmas back at you!

M.v.j.M.: I do too. The Whomping Willow seems to have a bit of a personality in the book, so I decided to amplify it and make it more sentient in the fic. We'll definitely be seeing more of it in the future.

CrossoverJunkie: That is very true. It makes me wonder how everyone would be sorted if they had a resort later on. Anyway, I thought even the Slytherins would get worried about a child. They are human, after all. :)

Now _finally,_ on with the fic!

 **Chapter Twelve: Playtime**

Lillian scrunched down in the blanket as she tried to get more comfortable but only succeeded in messing the blanket up.

Professor Snape rolled his eyes as he straightened the blanket out and began to tuck it in at the sides, ensuring that the blanket wouldn't fall off of the child in the middle of the night.

Lillian blinked and looked up at Professor Snape in surprise since he didn't seem like the sort of person who would tuck her in at night.

Maybe staying with him wouldn't be so bad, she mused to herself as Professor Snape suddenly froze and then hastily drew away from the couch as though just realizing what he had been doing.

He stood awkwardly for a moment, before waving his wand, causing several of the lights that had been lit around the quarters to extinguish, leaving the dim light of the dying fire to light his sitting room. It would be dark enough for sleep, yet still light enough to enable Lillian to see should she need to get up for anything.

With another wave of his wand, Professor Snape cast a silent monitoring spell over Lillian, since unlike that fool Lockhart, he was smart enough to remember that Lillian might not stay put either for the entire night or when she woke up and he would like to be informed of when she moved from the couch for any reason.

Lillian blinked as she felt the tingle of magic wash over her and Professor Snape noticed the faint glow emanating from her bracelet as his spell washed over her, and remembered the revelation he had before.

He wondered how it could be possible for Lillian to be his cousin _and_ a Seasonal at the same time. However, there couldn't be any denying that she probably was one. Her "accidental" magic was far too powerful for a small child.

"Do you want to try and recover some memories?" he finally asked her, after looking at her contemplatively for a few moments.

Lillian yawned and rubbed an eye sleepily.

"No, 'm tired," she admitted. Not only had she been up extra early, but all that crying had really taken it out of her. Not to mention that she was used to going to bed early now, as Gilderoy never let her stay up late anyway.

Professor Snape had to squash his disappointment at that. He thought for certain that if he could poke around in her mind, he might be able to determine once and for all if Lillian was a Seasonal or just an extraordinarily gifted young witch.

"Very well," he said curtly, deciding that he could poke around in her mind the next day since it would be Sunday.

He turned to head off to his potions lab since it was far too early for him to go to bed, when Lillian's voice called after him.

"Aren't you going to read me a story?" she asked him. "Gilderoy always reads me a story to help me fall asleep."

Professor Snape sighed at that and settled on reading Lillian a potions text, since he actually didn't have any story books for children. She had her wooden box with her, that contained all sorts of things to keep her occupied with, but he decided a potions text would lull her to sleep faster. He was certain she'd find the material above her head and extremely boring.

Half an hour later, Lillian stared wide-eyed from her spot on the couch as she heard all about how to prepare ingredients properly.

"Slicing is different from dicing and should be noted that it is also different from chopping," Professor Snape read aloud in his most monotone voice. He glanced down at Lillian and was irritated to see that she was completely fascinated by this mundane explanation.

Ordinarily, he might be flattered that she was taking such an interest in potions, but all he wanted right now was for her to go to sleep. He didn't trust her not to wander if he left her alone while she was still so awake.

He turned the page and found that he had moved from preparing ingredients onto the actual making of potions.

"Brewing potions: a step-by-step guide," he read to her.

"Yay!" Lillian cheered excitedly as she sat up, eagerly listening to Professor Snape.

Snape paused and glared at her from over the rim of the book. He took a seat in a chair nearby when it became apparent that little Lillian wasn't falling asleep anytime soon. He closed the book suddenly with a sharp snap that made the smile disappear from Lillian's face.

"I think that's enough reading for one night," Professor Snape said with a tone of finality. "It's time for you to go to sleep. It's already past your bedtime and I don't want you to be tired tomorrow."

"Aww, I wanted to hear how to make potions," Lillian whined with a pout.

"Tomorrow," Professor Snape promised. "Now time for bed."

Lillian sighed and laid back on the couch as Professor Snape hastily re-tucked her in. She hardly listened as he warned her not to take one foot off the couch and her eyes were already closed by the time he crept away from the sitting room and went off to his potions lab.

Lillian was sound asleep by the time Professor Snape had started to brew a potion. She might have expected to have a dream about potions, but almost as soon as she drifted off, she found herself standing in a field of flowers, with the orange light of a spring sunset shining all around them. As she gazed at the flowers, she noticed that some were partially open, while others had fully bloomed but that a lot of them were closed up as if they were sleeping. She also noticed that a lot of them were pink tulips and that sent her a jolt.

She stared at all the pink tulips and remembered suddenly that there was something very important about pink tulips..

A big pink tulip..?

Jack had been lounging by his frozen lake, staring out at the frosty ice, wondering when the landscape would become more defined. For instance, that shadowy house in the distance. Would he ever get to see it without all the shadows? What did that house signify, anyway?

He was shaken from his reverie when he felt that something was very, _very_ wrong. He stood and looked around, and spotted the last thing he thought he would ever see in here: Lillian herself.

A look of concern crossed his face as he wondered what the dangers were of entering your own mindscape. Did she even know what this place was?

His look of concern changed to panic when he noticed that several flowers around Lillian were starting to bloom all at once.

He leapt up and a winter wind whipped up suddenly as he gripped his staff tightly in his hand. In record time he had zoomed right over to Lillian who had hardly noticed, as she was staring at the flowers in concentration.

She remembered something about a giant flower.. Something important.

A giant flower and..

"Lillian!" Jack cried out as he landed not too far away from her.

Lillian startled at Jack's panicked shout and she looked up to see him standing there. For an instant, a look of complete recognition hit as her emerald eyes widened, but then in the next moment she winced and grabbed her head.

Jack saw the flowers surrounding Lillian were blooming rapidly and he grew even more worried.

"Stop it! It's too much at once!" he exclaimed, but all Lillian could do in response was whimper. She had no idea what he was talking about.

As the last of the spring sunset faded into twilight, Lillian found herself hit with a snowball right in the face. Before long, she found herself waking up suddenly with a vague memory of a dream of Jack pelting her with snowballs.

Back in her mindscape, Jack stared around at the flowers in dismay. So many of them were open!

This was bad.

Really bad.

What was he going to -

"Really? She couldn't last five minutes?" a deep voice behind him drawled.

Jack whirled around to see a tall figure with goldenish yellow eyes glinting in the dying sunlight.

"Pitch!" Jack exclaimed in relief. "What are you doing here?"

Pitch gave Jack a look, a somewhat condescending one as Jack should know why he was here.

"Obviously I'm here as you are, to protect Lillian's mind," he said as he took in the sight of so many open flowers. "One guardian is not enough, it seems."

Jack's shoulders slumped at that.

"You mean I'm not good enough," he said sadly with a sigh. "What are we going to do? All these open flowers are going to hurt her. They're her memories, and when they're open, it means she remembered something."

Pitch surveyed the open flowers.

"We'll have to close some of them. Some of her memories are quite powerful and even one will unlock several more. She must have seen something here that triggered this chain reaction. It was good of you to send her away. Her being here could have had disastrous consequences."

Jack nodded, but he hugged his staff uncertainly. He was sort of glad Pitch was there to take command, but he still felt like it meant that he was inadequate as a guardian for Lillian's mindscape.

"How do we do that?" he asked as Pitch walked over and knelt down by the flowers.

"We use our powers," he said simply.

Pitch cradled one of the flowers in his hands and as he channeled some of his power into it, it began to close. When he pulled his hands away from the flower, it had ceased to bloom and had closed back up as if sleeping.

Jack winced at the thought of using his powers.

"I don't think I can," he admitted. "When I accidentally used my powers, I made more flowers bloom."

"Hmm," Pitch said as he looked at all the open flowers. "Perhaps my powers have something to do with closing them then."

As the last of the light faded and the stars and moon came out, Jack watched Pitch close flower after flower carefully.

Jack only hoped it would be enough and that permanent damage hadn't been done to poor Lillian.

* * *

The next morning Professor Snape woke early and was surprised that his monitoring charm hadn't gone off. He was half expecting to be woken up during the middle of the night or else in the very early morning, but he hadn't heard a peep.

Frowning to himself, he quickly dressed and made his way to his sitting room, to see brown curls peeking out from underneath the blanket that Lillian currently had thrown over her head. He was about to speak to her, to see if she were awake when he heard a faint whimper coming from the lump in the blankets.

He hurried over and gently pulled the blanket back.

"Lillian?" he asked as he took in the sight of her face scrunched up in pain and tears streaming down her cheeks. How long had she been awake like this?

Lillian whimpered again and burrowed into the couch more.

"Hurts," she whispered softly.

"Where?" Professor Snape whispered back, his dark eyes gazing at her in concern.

"Everywhere," she said and then burst into tears.

Professor Snape looked bewildered, since the child had been just fine when she went to bed. Had something happened to her while she was sleeping?

He reached out and placed the back of his hand on her forehead. She felt a little warm, as though she were running a slight temperature, but not overly so.

He looked at her shrewdly as he tried to ignore her tears. It wouldn't do to get all emotional himself, he wouldn't be able to help Lillian that way.

"Is it your head?" he asked.

"It won't stop h-hurting..!" Lillian sobbed and then winced at the loud sound of her own tears and voice.

Professor Snape sighed and wondered how that had come about. She did have a long day yesterday. Had it been too much for her?

He furrowed his brow as he swept off to his potions lab to fetch a headache reliever. He paused, however, when he had found it in his lab and picked up the vial. This dosage was for someone much older than Lillian. He didn't have the proper dosage for a small child. In fact, it wasn't recommended to give a young child like Lillian a lot of potions.

But _was_ she a young child?

A Seasonal, he was certain, could be very old. But if Lillian was a Seasonal, that meant that she wasn't even a true witch. Would the potion have an adverse effect on her? However, the calming draught had seemed to work well enough..

Looking irritated at the thought of accidentally poisoning his cousin, and then having the headache-inducing thought of precisely _how_ a _Seasonal_ could possibly be related to him, he grabbed the vial and hurried out to his sitting room.

He helped Lillian sit up and uncorked the vial for her.

"Sip it until your head stops hurting," Professor Snape told Lillian as he handed the vial to her.

Lillian sipped at the potion and barely grimaced at the taste since her head hurt so much. After a long moment of just sipping the potion, she gave a huge sigh of relief and slumped back against the armrest of the couch, careful to not spill the rest of the vial of potion.

"Better?" Professor Snape asked her dryly as he reclaimed the vial from her.

"I felt like my head was going to explode!" Lillian exclaimed.

"You don't have any idea what brought this on?" Professor Snape asked.

Lillian shook her head.

"I had a dream that Jack threw snowballs at me, I think," Lillian told him.

Professor Snape frowned a little, as he remembered a similar situation he had been in. Could she have been..?

With a sigh, he shook his head. He had been hoping to enter her mindscape today and take a good look around, but with her recovering from a migraine he couldn't possibly do that now.

He gazed down at his cousin and wondered for the millionth time how he could possibly be related to a possible Seasonal. If only she had her memories!

He frowned a little in irritation since he wouldn't be able to help her gain any new memories today either. It would be unwise to do so after a migraine like that.

"I think you're going to be having a quiet day today," he told Lillian after he stoppered the remaining vial of headache reliever and pocketed it, in case it was needed later on.

"Aw, I wanted to go outside," Lillian pouted.

Professor Snape paused as he took in that statement. If she were a Seasonal, she would be drawn to the outdoors. It would be almost cruel to keep her locked inside all the time.

He sighed again and ran a hand through his hair.

"If you rest until lunch and behave yourself, I might be inclined to take you outside later today," he said finally, after a long moment.

"Yay!" Lillian cheered as she leapt to her feet on the couch and did a little happy dance.

Professor Snape's lips twitched, but he refrained from smiling as his brow rose.

"Is this how you rest?" he asked her dryly.

Lillian blushed and promptly sat back down on the couch.

"Um.. yes?" she said with a sheepish grin.

Professor Snape gave her a look as he grabbed her wooden box and deposited it in her lap.

"Find something to do _quietly_ ," he instructed. "I'll make us some breakfast."

As Professor Snape swept off to his kitchenette, Lillian opened her box to find something quiet to do. While she perused the things that were packed away, she couldn't help but think about the weird dream she had about Jack pelting her with snowballs.

She shook her head as she pulled a book out and began to quietly read.

* * *

While Professor Snape and Lillian were resting and sorting out breakfast, Harry was with his friends at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

Harry was poking at his eggs distractedly with a fork while Ron and Hermione were talking in hushed tones. Harry couldn't help but notice the lack of Professor Snape and Lillian at the breakfast table, nor how Professor Lockhart kept giving Professor Snape's seat anxious glances, as though hoping the man would suddenly appear out of thin air.

Harry felt his face burn as he thought of his detention the other night with Professor Lockhart. The Professor had made him copy lines (unbeknown to Harry, Lockhart had thought of making Harry help answer his fan mail, but then had thought better of it, especially when he thought of how Lillian would laugh at the notion), and kept peppering him with all sorts of "helpful" advice, such as how he should take care to pay more attention to how he dresses in public.

Harry had turned beet red at the time and he struggled not to do the same as he thought of what Professor Lockhart had said. Harry just _knew_ that it had been Professor Lockhart who had sent him all those nice clothes and it had him feeling conflicted. He loved that he finally had clothes that fit him, but the thought that a _professor_ had bought them for him was humiliating.

It wasn't his fault of course that the Dursleys wouldn't give him proper clothes, but it made him feel a little strange that Professor Lockhart thought he chose to dress like that on purpose.

Harry tuned back in to Ron and Hermione's conversation to hear them continuing to wonder what that mysterious voice Harry had heard during his detention was. Harry had told Ron about it right away, but they hadn't gotten the chance to tell Hermione about it until just before breakfast.[1] Thankfully it was still rather early and the Great Hall was a bit empty, so they could get away with having such a conversation and didn't have to worry about being overheard.

Harry had had difficulty sleeping after hearing that awful voice, and he couldn't help but wonder what it had meant by killing? He had tried to keep an eye out on the way down to breakfast, but he hadn't noticed anything that looked.. torn. He shivered a little at the thought of finding something as gruesome as a ripped and torn body and looked back down at his scrambled eggs, as he realized he was no longer hungry for breakfast.

Just as he was mourning the fact that those eggs would go to waste (he was still relishing in the fact he could eat what he liked after that terrible summer at the Dursley's) a pair of hands appeared in his field of vision and each scooped a rather large spoonful of eggs onto Harry's plate.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked as he looked up to see the Weasley twins sitting across from them suddenly.

Harry didn't know what to think about the twins constantly trying to feed him. Ever since they left the Burrow, he kept finding extra spoonfuls of food being heaped onto his plate as though Mrs. Weasley was there. Harry had noticed the fact that the twins were always around when it happened and it made him feel.. odd. It was one thing to be mothered by Mrs. Weasley, but the _twins?_ [2] He wasn't sure what to feel about that.

"You need - " Fred started.

" - to eat more." George finished.

"We know seekers are small," Fred continued.

"But we don't want you blown away," George finished for his twin with a smirk.

Harry blushed at that and looked down at his scrambled eggs awkwardly. Before Uncle Vernon had locked him in his room, he hadn't been allowed to eat much at meals anyway and the rich food of Hogwarts always took him a little bit to get used to. He supposed last year everyone had still been getting used to sitting with _Harry Potter_ to notice that he didn't eat much at first.

Rather than comment on what the twins said, Harry uncomfortably started to eat his scrambled eggs.

"Lay off," Ron said with a frown a the twins, noticing how uncomfortable Harry was at their teasing. "Harry had a rough night last night."

Fred raised an eyebrow at this as he looked at Harry who was eating his eggs slowly. He did notice that Harry looked very tired and tense.

"Rough night?" George questioned, asking the question that was clearly on Fred's mind as they both looked at Harry.

Harry, who was unable to answer due to having his mouth full, had Ron helpfully answer for him.

"He had detention with Lockhart," Ron responded for Harry. "And I had to polish all the trophies in the trophy room.. I don't think my arm will ever be the same."

Ron looked down at his poor arm, which was still sore from all the polishing he had to do, but that still hadn't stopped him from scarfing half his breakfast down already.

"Harry had to write lines," Hermione added on with an eye roll at Ron's theatrics. "But _really,_ that isn't a very good detention for flying a car to Hogwarts," she said a little sniffily.

"What did you - "

" - have to write?" the twins asked Harry.

Harry managed to swallow his mouthful of eggs to answer.

"'I must not risk my life to get to Hogwarts. Next time I will use my owl,'" Harry replied with a forced scowl. In truth, he was still really freaked out about that mysterious voice.

"I still don't know how you two forgot about Hedwig," Hermione said with a shake of her head.

"We panicked, alright?" Ron said grumpily as he stabbed his remaining eggs with his fork.

Hermione opened her mouth, but whatever else she was going to say was cut off by the arrival of the morning owls. Hermione wasn't too pleased about all the owls around their food, but she still paid the owl that flew down by her and gratefully accepted the Daily Prophet that it had for her.[3] She winced in sympathy for poor Harry, since they were still running articles about the 'Boy Who Lived' at Hogwarts with the famous Gilderoy Lockhart.

She disappeared behind the Prophet and Harry tried really hard not to notice the phrase 'Boy Who Lived' on the front page.

It was easier said than done, but a rather plain barn owl pecking his hand for attention distracted him nicely.

"Ow!" Harry exclaimed as he suddenly noticed the irritated owl glaring at him. "Sorry," he added sheepishly as the twins snickered from across the table at him.

Harry untied the rolled up letter from the owl and it flew away in a huff. He untied the letter and it sprang open a little, only to curl up again as it had been tightly rolled. He carefully unfurled it and started to read the letter while Ron looked on curiously, still munching on breakfast.

"Who's writin' 'oo?" Ron asked through his mouthful of food.

Harry wrinkled his nose at Ron's manners and Hermione smacked Ron on the arm.

"That is completely disgusting!" Hermione exclaimed.

Ron shrugged at her while the twins rolled their eyes at each other. They were quite used to Ron's terrible table manners.

"Now Ronnie," Fred grinned at Ron.

"It isn't nice to pry," George said as he whisked the letter out of Harry's hands.

"Precisely," Fred said as he stole the letter from George and promptly frowned as he read who the sender was.

"Hey!" Harry complained as he tried to grab the letter back from Fred.

"Who's - " Fred began.

" - Remus Lupin?" George finished for his twin, as he peered over at the letter as well.

"'Oo?" Ron said with his mouth still full of food and winced as Hermione smacked him again. "'eeey!"

"Stop acting like a barbarian and I'll stop hitting you!" Hermione admonished.

"He was a friend of my dad's," Harry said a little shortly as he made to grab the letter again and it was held out of his reach.

"Really?" Fred said as he looked at the letter interestedly, but it was stolen out of his hands by Lee Jordan, who had finally tracked down to where his friends had gotten to.

Lee glanced at the letter and saw that it was addressed to Harry and couldn't help but grin a little at the twins' antics. He handed the letter back to Harry as he took a seat next to Fred.

Harry gratefully rolled the letter back up and stuffed it into his pocket before anyone else could steal it from him.

Lee helped himself to some breakfast while Harry put his letter out of the twins' reach.

"So, did you two get around to asking yet?" Lee asked as he glanced at the twins, who suddenly looked sheepish.

Lee sighed and looked apologetically at Harry.

"They get distracted easily," he felt the need to explain.

"I hadn't noticed," Harry commented dryly as he took a drink of his pumpkin juice.

"Anyway, they were supposed to ask - " Lee started, only to get cut off.

" - if you're up for an impromptu practice - " Fred interrupted.

" - With two gorgeous beaters I might add," George inserted as he gave an imaginary flip of his hair that had Hermione giggling while Ron scowled at his brother.

" - of Quidditch!" the twins finished together with Lee Jordan.

It took Harry all of two seconds to think about it as his face lit up with a grin.

"Of course!" he said happily as he dug into his eggs with more enthusiasm, mysterious voices and his letter from Mr. Lupin shoved instantly to the back of his mind.

"Excellent," the twins replied as they exchanged a triumphant look with each other. It was their job to cheer people up (and prank them) and they felt like their job was done with Harry.

"Can I come?" Ron asked as he had finally finished his mouthful of food and the remainder of his breakfast.

Harry was about to tell Ron that of course, he could come, but an overly enthusiastic voice in the background had him groaning.

"Oh! Oh! Me too!" Colin piped up as he made his way over, dragging a sleepy Ginny Weasley[4] along with him.

* * *

Much to Lillian's delight, Professor Snape had said that Lillian was sufficiently rested to go outside and play that afternoon. She had cheered at that and had raced for the door as soon as he gave the go ahead.

"I didn't mean..!" he exclaimed exasperatedly as Lillian bolted.

He shook his head with a sigh and marched after her, knowing that she was at least headed for the entrance hall so that she could go outside.

"Freedom!" Lillian shouted as she burst out of the front doors in the entrance hall after heaving one open.

Lillian grinned as she practically flew down the steps and onto the ground. The instant her feet hit the ground, spring flowers sprang up all around her and the sun, which had been partially hidden behind some clouds, had suddenly appeared and began shining down in force as a gentle spring breeze started up.

Harry was on his broom and was having fun racing around with the twins while Ron trailed after them on a school broom. Harry was distracted from his race, however, by the sudden warmth of the spring breeze.

The air had been a more chilly morning autumn air and now..

"Ohh, and Harry falls behind as the twins make a comeback!" Lee Jordan exclaimed as he commentated on the happenings out on the Quidditch field, much to Colin and Ginny's delight and Hermione's ire.

Hermione sat next to an overly enthusiastic Colin in the stands, who had Ginny Weasley on his other side and Lee on the end. Hermione was thoroughly irritated because she didn't particularly care for Quidditch or flying and had brought a library book outside to occupy herself with, so she could support her friends but not actually have to endure anything to do with Quidditch - or so she had hoped, but with Lee shouting out everything that was going on, her concentration was shattered and she still had to endure the ravings of the fanatics (namely Colin and Lee, while Ginny cheered as she looked on jealously).

Harry heard Lee shouting and put on a spurt of speed, shooting past the twins and zooming to the goalpost, which was their finish line.

"Annnd Harry Potter wins!" Lee said as Colin and Ginny cheered.

Harry grinned as he raised his arm in the air to wave at his friends and then he heard the unmistakable _click!_ of a camera shutter and his grin faded a bit. He looked over to see Colin capturing his win and sighed.

While Harry was celebrating his win against the twins, Lillian was racing around outside, ignoring all the spring flowers that were popping up. She paused in mid-step however, when she remembered the Whomping Willow, and wondered how it was, even though she had just seen it the other day.

She glanced back towards the front doors and didn't notice Professor Snape yet. Maybe a quick peek couldn't hurt.

She quickly took off towards the greenhouses, hoping she could be discreet, but with Lillian being Lillian, there was no hope of that.

After their race, the twins suggested that they all play catch to practice, since it wouldn't be safe to use actual bludgers and impractical to use a snitch at the moment, what with Ron practicing as well. So they wound up forming a small circle and using a soft, squishy ball they had scrounged up from who-knows-where to pass back and forth.

The twins had at first teased Ron by throwing tricky shots to him, but it soon became obvious that Ron was very flustered and not as confident as Harry and the twins on a broom yet, let alone trying to fly and catch a moving object at the same time.

Harry managed to catch the ball which had been thrown to him by George, and taking pity on poor Ron, Harry gently tossed the ball to him, rather than have one of the twins do it and make Ron even more flustered.

Ron overreacted to the throw and made a wild grab at the ball, which unfortunately sailed right through his arms. Blushing as much as his hair, Ron quickly dove down and just managed to catch the ball before it hit the ground.

He straightened up and took one glance at the twins' exasperated looks and turning even redder, he hastily passed the ball to Harry, throwing it far too short to reach him.

Harry saw Ron facepalm right after throwing the ball, but Harry wasn't an excellent flyer for nothing.

He darted forward on his broom, his eyes never leaving the descending ball.

"Oh my gosh!" Colin squealed as his camera shutter clicked away.

"And Harry goes into a spectacular dive!" Lee Jordan roared as even Hermione had taken her eyes off her book to watch.

"Ohh, Harry, be careful!" Hermione called out, but of course, Harry wasn't listening.

The wind was whistling in Harry's ears and his friends' shouts became unimportant noise as he kept his eyes on the prize.

In fact, if it wasn't for the bright line of predominately pink flowers, he might not have been distracted by anything. But unfortunately for him, there was a magically appearing line of flowers and it was this that caused him to tear his eyes away from the ball he was chasing.

"What the - " Harry gasped as he saw a small figure far down below running past the pitch in the direction of the greenhouses, with a bright line of flowers trailing after it.

If he didn't know any better, that almost looked like -

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed suddenly in alarm.

Harry's attention was immediately brought back to the fact that he'd been diving in midair and now suddenly, he realized that the ground was _far_ too close for comfort.

He wrenched his broom upwards at the last second and toppled to the ground, falling over on his back breathlessly as his friends all cried out in alarm and came running over.

Harry sat up and tried to catch his breath so he could explain that he was just fine, but the next shout caused his eyes to widen and for his breath to leave him again.

"MISTER POTTER!" None other than Professor Snape thundered as Harry sat up.

Harry stared at the irate Professor as the twins, Ron, Hermione, Colin, Ginny and Lee all raced over at top speed.

Professor Snape stormed over with his normally sallow face turning red as he glared at Harry.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he shouted at Harry.

Harry flinched back at the sound of the professor practically screaming at him as all he could do was stare at Snape with wide eyes.

"Foolish boy!" Snape continued, ignoring the flinch from Harry and the glares he was suddenly receiving from the other students. "Do you have a death wish?!"

"He was just flying!" Ron spoke up as he glared at Snape in hatred.

Hermione made a rather shrill noise that might have been part of a snort of disbelief, but nobody seemed to be paying her any mind.

"I - " Harry said breathlessly, "..I.."

"Well?!" Professor Snape demanded as he ignored in what his opinion was a pointless outburst from Weasley.

Harry didn't respond as he seemed to be having a hard time catching his breath.

"Professor," Hermione interrupted worriedly, "Harry needs the hospital wing! He almost died!"

Professor Snape startled at that as he was snapped out of glaring at Harry to look at the boy more critically. He saw the wide, green eyes, looking at him full of panic and the fact that Potter seemed to have stopped breathing altogether.

He sighed in consternation and noticed the trail of spring flowers leading off past the greenhouses that seemed to be heading towards the Whomping Willow.

 _Wonderful._

"I will deal with this Miss Granger," Professor Snape snapped suddenly at Hermione, his dark eyes turning towards the remaining students to glare at them. "I suggest that you, Weasley - " he paused, as he remembered how many Weasley's were present at the moment, " - Ron and Ginny - and Mister Creevey all go on your way. _Now._ "

"I'm not leaving Harry with you!" Ron said stubbornly as he glared at Snape.

Professor Snape's eyes glittered with malice as his expression soured further. He did _not_ need this.

"If you don't do as I say, I'll deduct fifty points from Gryffindor," he snarled at Ron. "Get moving. _Now._ "

Ron found himself dragged off against his will by both Hermione and Ginny, the former who was reassuring Ron that they could go visit Harry in the hospital wing later. Colin paused to snap a quick picture of the panic-stricken Harry and the very angry professor before hurrying off after them.

Professor Snape knew that he could send Harry off to the hospital wing with the remaining students, but he didn't particularly want to have them explain that he, Professor Snape, had set Harry off into a panic attack.

The last thing he needed on top of everything else was to have Madam Pomfrey scolding him again.

"Weasley! Weasley! Jordan!" Professor Snape barked out, his voice coming out sharper in his irritation.

"Sir?" Lee asked uncertainly as he glanced at Harry, who seemed frozen on the spot despite the flinch from Professor Snape's sharp tone.

"I want you three to follow those flowers," he demanded as he pointed at the trail of flowers that lead toward the Whomping Willow. "I expect you'll find Lillian at the end of them and I will expect you to return her to me in _perfect_ condition. Am I understood?"

"Y-yes, sir," Lee stammered in complete bewilderment as Professor Snape strode off to Harry.

"Mister Potter," Snape said more gently as he looked down at the young boy. "If you'll come with me."

Harry found himself being helped to his feet and in a daze, he realized Professor Snape had grabbed a hold of his arm and was leading him off towards the castle. He had the presence of mind to glance back and see one of the twins helpfully scoop up his precious Nimbus 2000.

George held Harry's broom over one shoulder as Fred pointed in the direction of the flowers.

"To Lillian!" Fred proclaimed as they began to march off toward the Willow.

Lee scratched his head in confusion as he followed after the twins.

"Does anyone else find this _really_ weird, even for Hogwarts?"

* * *

[1]: Ok, so I checked the book to make sure but Harry only tells Ron about the voice he heard in detention. Immediately after that night it just skips right to October. I guess we're supposed to _assume_ he told Hermione, but I wanted to include it in here. I also checked after the attack to see if Hermione was mentioned (or what she had to say about the whole Harry's hearing voices thing), and Harry did pull her and Ron aside after they escape the classroom after being questioned by Dumbledore, but Harry only talks to _Ron._ I understand that Ron is Harry's best guy friend, but jeesh! I feel like Hermione gets forgotten about sometimes.

[2]: So the twins helped to rescue Harry from the Dursleys in the book, saw the bars on the window and can see Harry is scrawny enough to assume he's either not being fed properly or starved and then.. nothing. Yeah, after that in the book, they don't care anymore. In fact, nobody cares. Yes, I liked reading about Harry at the Dursleys, but _nobody_ cared? Anyway, I can see how Ron can be explained away by his being young, but the twins are old enough where they'd be more concerned. So I had them channel Mrs. Weasley a little.

[3]: I can't remember when it's first mentioned that Hermione starts getting the Daily Prophet in the books, but I figured she'd start as early as possible and not just because it would help out the plot.

[4]: Colin doesn't get mentioned too much other than pestering Harry, so I thought I'd include him a bit more. Ginny also doesn't get mentioned a whole lot, despite her being a huge plot point in this book, so I put her in this chapter too. I figure since she and Colin are in the same year that they'd be friends, what with their mutual fangirling over Harry.

Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Yes, the character cameo I was referring to earlier was Pitch. I just _had_ to throw him in there, even if he is only there to help guard Lillian's mind for now. I figure as she regains more memories and her mindscape becomes more defined, she'd get more guardians. If you were wondering, I purposely didn't show what memories Lillian was remembering in her mindscape since it just would have been a confused jumble of images all rushing at her at once - that's why she got a migraine from it.

I also hope you guys liked the parts with the twins in there. I feel like they get ignored and they are too fun not to include. I was debating about the end of the chapter, since I wasn't sure about having Snape leave Lillian in the hands of the _twins_ of all people, but I also wanted Snape to have a moment with Harry, where Harry can see Snape as an actual human being for a change and not just him being a bastard constantly. I also hope you don't mind that Harry and Co. are shown more in this chapter, but I thought it'd be interesting to see what they'd all be up to, since technically we're in non-book territory now, since the book skips right to October.

I thought about showing what Jack Frost was up to, but we already got a glimpse of him previously and there really isn't much for him to do until he _finally_ shows up at Hogwarts. I imagine that it won't be too much longer until the first frost, so we'll see if either Halloween or Jack shows up first. :)

As always, if you have any comments/anything, feel free to let me know! I also want to give a shoutout to all the favs and follows I get, since that lets me know that people are still interested in this even after all these months. I won't say when the next chapter will come out, but I hope it will be before 4 or 5 months have gone by.

Next chapter should start off with the twins finally meeting Lillian!

 **Edit:** I can't believe I forgot Colin. Yeesh.


	13. Chapter 13: The Twins, Potions & Plan

Author's Note: I couldn't help but think about the final confrontation in the Chamber and what awesomely dramatic things could happen in there when I realized suddenly that I have barely grazed the surface of this book and am actually not that far into the school year. Yeesh! So while I have my eye ahead on events to come, I decided I definitely needed to get the ball rolling.

Anyway, reviews!

SilversunXD: Thanks!

M.v.j.M.: Thank you very much. :)

KijoKuroi: I think I mentioned in earlier chapters that the wizards don't know very much about Seasonals. I'll touch on it in a later chapter, but wizards pretty much view Seasonals as magical beings that have Centaur-like intelligence but aren't human. Since Snape thinks Lillian is his cousin, he's finding it difficult to believe she could be a powerful magical being AND his relative. So no, he doesn't know how they are chosen. He's just completely dumbfounded at the thought that he could be related to anything as powerful as a Seasonal and how that should be impossible.

I also can't wait for Snape to meet Pitch in Lillian's mind!

Crossover Junkie: Especially Professor Snape!

 **Chapter Thirteen: Meeting the Twins, Potions & Wind's Plan**

The twins eagerly followed the flowers with a reluctant Lee Jordan trailing after them. The twins only had thoughts of how they could use Snape's _cousin_ to their advantage, while Lee was wondering what the hell following a bunch of flowers had to do with finding a child.

It became clear to Lee that the child had taken a meandering path, as sometimes they went in circles or wandered in a sort of zigzag that had him shaking his head. The twins were so busy plotting that they hardly noticed that they too, were following the circles and zigzags when all they had to do was go straight forward. It was clear that the flowers were headed straight for the greenhouses.

Lee followed after the twins with a bemused look on his face as he took a more direct path to their circles and zigzags and had to actually slow down so that he didn't pass them, as Fred had clearly wanted to take the lead on their little expedition. Lee noticed as they approached the greenhouses that the flowers went right up to the windows, as though they had wanted to peek inside, but that was absurd.. right?

The twins were so intent on their conversation that they hardly noticed as they too walked up to the greenhouses, but when Fred nearly walked right into the wall, they noticed where they were with sheepish grins on each of their faces.

"The flowers go past the greenhouses," Lee called out from where he had stopped, to see if the twins would actually walk into the wall or not.

Lee had a highly amused look on his face and his grin widened as George looked back at him with a small scowl, as he had noted that his friend hadn't bothered to warn them to watch where they were walking.

Fred was the first to recover from their near miss as he saw that the flowers did indeed go past the greenhouses, as Lee had helpfully pointed out.

"Onward!" Fred called out as he pointed dramatically forward and began to walk in the direction of the flowers.

"Uh, guys.." Lee said hesitantly in the background as he was paying attention to where they were going and he noted with growing concern just where the flowers were headed.

"To riches!" George called out just as dramatically as he recovered from scowling at Lee to grin along with his twin.

"..Guys.." Lee said again, trying in vain to capture the twins' attention, but they seemed determined to ignore him in favor of their antics.

"To glory!" Fred shouted as he marched forward, eyes on the flowers and clearly not paying any attention to their destination.

"To Lillian!" the twins cried out in unison, clearly not listening to Lee even a little.

"GUYS!" Lee shouted in growing panic.

"What?!" Fred scowled as he whirled around to face Lee, his playful grin gone.

George also scowled at their friend for ruining their fun, but all Lee could do was point ahead, where the twins saw what Lee had been trying to tell them for the past few minutes.

"..Oh.." the twins said in unison, their scowls vanishing as their eyes grew wide as they looked in the direction Lee was pointing in.

They saw the imposing form of the Whomping Willow, and sitting at its base surrounded by a large number of spring flowers was little Lillian, smiling happily as she chatted away to.. well, as far as they could see, she was talking to nothing in particular.

The twins and Lee all shared a horrified look since they knew that tree, in particular, was extremely dangerous. After some misadventures in their first year involving the tree, the twins had learned to stay far away from it.

"What are we going to do?" Lee asked in a hushed voice, so as not to startle either Lillian or the violent tree.

"Ah.." Fred said, clearly at a loss.

"Well.." George was clearly as lost as his twin.

They heard Lillian's giggle as she smiled happily while the branches of the Whomping Willow swayed innocently in the light spring breeze.

"I'm so glad I got to come outside!" Lillian exclaimed innocently with a big smile on her face, unaware of the twins and Lee panicking as they tried to discreetly sneak closer to the tree.

It was as Lee was muttering in a panicked whisper that Professor Snape was going to kill them that inspiration struck Fred and he smirked as he saw all the spring flowers surrounding them.

"George, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Fred asked his twin quietly.

"I think so Fred, but where are we going to get weed killer out here?" George asked as he looked at where his twin was looking.

Fred facepalmed and smacked the back of George's head.

"No!" Fred quietly exclaimed. "What can we do with all these flowers?"

"Well.." George looked at them thoughtfully. "We clearly can't take over the world."

Lee overheard their conversation and despite his earlier panic he cracked up laughing at their ridiculous conversation.[1] He quickly stifled his laughter, so he wouldn't draw the unwanted attention of Lillian or the Whomping Willow. The last thing they needed was the tree freaking out and accidentally hurting Professor Snape's cousin.

Fred rolled his eyes at his twin and whispered into George's ear.

"Ohh," George said as he nodded in understanding. "That's a good plan."

"Clearly I inherited all the brains," Fred smirked as he began to gather up some of the flowers.

"While I inherited all the beauty," George smirked back at his twin as he, too, began to gather up flowers.

Quick as a flash, they both had made a rather impressively long flower chain.

"Now.." Fred said, drawing out his wand as George held the flower chain in his arms. He took careful aim and with a wave of his wand and a muttered incantation, the flowers transfigured themselves into a thin yet sturdy vine.

George hastily tied the vine into a makeshift lasso and began to twirl it over his head with a grin.[2]

"Yeehaw!" he cried out as Lee facepalmed in the background.

"Seriously?!" Lee complained. "This is never going to work!"

"Oh ye of little faith," Fred grinned at his friend while George threw the lasso at Lillian.

With only the aim of the truly inexperienced, George managed to accidentally lasso one of the tree's branches.

"..Oops," George said and a split second later he was yanked off his feet and found himself being flung around in the air.

"Nooo, put me down!" George screamed as he was flung every which way.

"..Huh?" Lillian looked up in surprise as she saw George clinging to the vine for dear life.

"Omigosh!" Lee cried out in renewed panic. "GEORGE!"

"Let go!" Fred yelled at his twin. "We'll catch you!"

"I don't want to diiie!" George screamed back at them, or at the tree, it was hard to tell.

Lillian looked very confused at all this since she had no idea why that boy had decided to lasso the Whomping Willow, as clearly the tree didn't like it.

She frowned at him since that wasn't very nice, but she noticed the tree was being far too mean in retaliation.

"HEY!" Lillian yelled at the Whomping Willow as she stood up and stamped her foot in irritation. Unseen by the panicking teens, her bracelet began to glow brightly as she stamped her foot. "Knock it off!"

The tree froze as Lillian yelled at it, but then gave a half-hearted flail of its branches in protest, causing George to cry out as he was flung around a little.

Lillian glared at the tree and poked its trunk forcefully.

"I mean it, mister!" she demanded. "Let him down!"

The Willow's branches drooped in defeat and with a sharp snap, the branch George had lassoed gave a hard jerk and George's grip slipped from the vine. He started to scream again, but it was cut off when he abruptly hit the ground, landing in a heap.

"Good tree," Lillian praised as she patted the trunk. She walked over to the dangling vine and gestured for the Whomping Willow to lower the branch, which it did.

Lillian had to stretch as far she could on her tiptoes, but she could just reach the branch, which had lowered itself quite far to the ground, as the tree leaned towards her helpfully.

Lillian struggled with the knot of the lasso while Fred and Lee rushed over to George, who was sitting up with a groan.

"..That.. was.." George said as he shook his head trying to get the dizzying image of little Lillians from flying around his head to go away.[3]

"Idiotic," Lee supplied helpfully.

"Terrible," Fred agreed cheerfully, although still a bit pale from George's accident.

"Really stupid!" Lillian chimed in as she threw the vine at them forcefully, having finally untied it from the tree branch.

The twins and Lee looked over at little Lillian in surprise, since they had never heard her be so loud. She was usually very quiet and subdued in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and she was normally not very talkative during meals in the Great Hall.

Lillian scowled at the teens, her emerald eyes darkening a little in her anger.

"The poor Willow is already hurt and you could have made it worse!" she chastised as she wagged a finger at them. "Not to mention you practically killed yourself!"

George sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"We were trying to rescue you from the tree," he explained.

Lillian rolled her eyes at this.

"Did it look like I needed rescuing?" she asked sarcastically.

"You did a little," Fred said defensively for his twin.

"Besides," Lee interjected, "Professor Snape asked us to come and get you."

Lillian's scolding look immediately turned guilty, since she knew that he would flip out if he ever learned that she had come back to the Whomping Willow.

"He did?" she asked a little hesitantly. "Does he know I'm here?"

"No, I imagine he'd have come here himself if he knew," George replied as he finally got up to his feet.

Lillian sighed in relief, which caused Fred to get a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"But, since he did ask us to fetch you for him, he really should know," Fred said in a mock-serious tone.

"Wh-what?" Lillian stammered nervously.

" _However,_ " Fred continued, "we _might_ be persuaded not to tell him.."

"..If you help us out," George finished for his twin getting an equally mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Just a small favor," Fred said trying and failing to sound innocent.

"Or two," George snickered.

"More like fifty," Lee muttered with a smile at their antics.

"What kind of favor?" Lillian asked as the twins approached her and each threw their arms around her, leading her away from the Whomping Willow.

"Kid - " Fred said with an evil grin.

" - This is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship," George finished for his twin with an equally evil grin.

"Oh boy," Lee commented as he followed them while shaking his head. But then he thought of all the pranks they could do with Lillian's help and he began to grin evilly too.

* * *

While the Weasley twins and Lee were tracking down Lillian (and totally not blackmailing her into helping them out with their pranks), Professor Snape was leading Harry down to the dungeons. Thankfully there weren't a lot of students about, and those that were assumed that Harry was in trouble. Again.

Harry himself didn't take much notice of his surroundings, so it seemed like only moments later that he found himself sitting on a couch with a hot cup of tea in front of him, with Professor Snape urging him to drink.

Harry blinked in confusion since wasn't he just outside on the Quidditch pitch?

"Potter!" Snape barked in irritation. "I said _drink!_ "

Harry startled at Professor Snape's loud voice and his hands flew to his teacup as he took a big drink of the surprisingly good tea. As he swallowed, he instantly felt himself relax and for the first time since he'd seen Snape bearing down on him out on the field, he finally was able to breathe normally.

He looked over at Professor Snape quickly and noticed that those dark eyes were looking at him carefully. He blushed when he remembered how he had panicked when Snape had been screaming at him and looked down at his tea as though it were fascinating, just so he could avoid looking at Snape.

At the time, when Snape had been practically screaming at him, all he could think about was his Uncle Vernon and the horrible fight that had ensued after Dobby had smashed his Aunt Petunia's pudding in the kitchen. His Uncle had sounded a bit like that, and he didn't like it.

For one terrible moment he had been certain that Snape was angry enough to hit him, but then Snape had stopped screaming at him suddenly, and that was when things became a big blur.

While Harry was looking at his tea, Professor Snape was looking at Harry. He gave an irritated sigh and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Potter had been in more dangerous situations than that, and the boy has a panic attack because he, Severus Snape, was yelling at him?

True, he had been a bit.. _excessive_ , but really! The stupid boy had almost killed himself with that idiotic dive!

Professor Snape felt himself getting angry all over again and took a sip of his own teacup. He felt himself relax and was thankful that he had spiked both his and Potter's cup generously with a calming draught.

Once he was calmer, Profesor Snape took a more critical look at the boy. He remembered how Potter had been dressed when he arrived at the school, but now the boy seemed to be wearing more normal clothes. Students weren't required to wear their uniforms during their free time, but they still had to wear it when at meals in the Great Hall.

The clothes Potter had worn before were scruffy and overly large for him, but now he saw that Potter was wearing a normal pair of jeans with a Gryffindor red longsleeved shirt. Professor Snape frowned in confusion at the sight, since if the boy had clothes like these, why was he wearing those other clothes?

Come to think of it, he didn't remember Potter wearing casual clothes at all last year. He remembered the boy had worn his uniform the entire time, even during their free time on Fridays and on the weekends. Usually, the students couldn't wait to wear more casual clothes. Even Weasley had eagerly shed his uniform.

But not Potter.

They sat in silence for a moment, Professor Snape watching the boy and wishing he'd stop staring into his cup as though he wanted to crawl inside and hide.

After a few minutes of this, Professor Snape cleared his throat and Harry jumped as the silence was broken.

Professor Snape rolled his eyes and urged Potter to drink more of his tea.

Harry did so, rather reluctantly, and his shoulders relaxed from their resumed tense posture of a moment ago.

"So, Potter," Snape said dryly. "Have you recovered from your near-death experience?"

Harry felt his cheeks burn and he nodded silently as he still stared down into his teacup. He could never in a million years explain to Snape why he had really freaked out, nor did he want to - _ever._

"Can.. can I go now?" Harry asked as he finally looked up from his cup to Professor Snape.

Harry saw Snape purse his lips in an Aunt Petunia-like fashion, which Harry knew meant that the question didn't sit well with Snape, but Harry could really care less at this point. He was desperate to get away and avoid any more awkward questions.

Professor Snape eyed Harry again, his frown deepening as he did so.

"Have you been eating properly?" he asked suddenly as he slammed his teacup down on its saucer on the coffee table harder than he had intended to. He had noticed that with Harry wearing more form-fitting clothes, that the boy was really _too_ skinny and it wasn't sitting well with him. These inconsistencies with the boy were really quite annoying.

Harry jumped again at the sudden action and then mentally cursed himself for being so jumpy still.

"Yes, sir," Harry very quickly answered.

"Hmm," Professor Snape murmured, and Harry felt like Snape didn't believe him at all.

Harry fiddled with his teacup, and for something to do, he took another long drink from his cup, draining it in the process.

Professor Snape stood and gave Harry a half-hearted glare. He couldn't give Harry his scariest glare, not after believing he had frightened the boy so.

" _Don't_ move from this spot," Snape spat at him and without another word of explanation, he stalked off to a hallway and disappeared into a room.

Harry blinked in surprise at Snape's sudden departure and shrugged to himself. He set his empty teacup down on its saucer and then looked around to see that he was in a living room of sorts. He noted that everything seemed rather dated (like much of the wizarding world) and that there weren't any electronics around, not that he expected any in Hogwarts, after all.

He noticed that there wasn't as much Slytherin green around as he was expecting. He had expected everything to be drowning in green, much like the Gryffindor tower sported a lot of red and gold, but he found instead that there were splashes of it around. The couch he was sitting on was a more neutral dark color, and the walls and floor were stone gray, of course. A Slytherin green blanket with silvery swirls lay on the back of the couch folded neatly and on the wall near a matching armchair that was nearby was a large bookcase, that was full of books of all shapes and sizes.

Harry got on his knees on the couch to peer back behind it, and he saw an archway that led to a small kitchenette. He quickly sat back down on the couch, lest Snape catch him snooping, and looked back to where Snape had disappeared to.

He could see a hall beyond the living room doorway and a few closed doors. He realized with a start that Snape must have taken him, Harry, to his private quarters, since this didn't look anything at all like one of the dorms nor did it look like an office.

He frowned a little as he fidgeted. He didn't even know where Professor McGonagall lived, and now here he was, sitting on _Snape's_ couch!

Just as Harry was wondering how much trouble he'd be in for snooping in a wooden box he spotted laying out on a nearby end table, Professor Snape came stalking back in, as Harry guiltily looked away from the box and tried to rearrange his expression to something more neutral.

Professor Snape almost snorted when he saw Potter look away from the box and surmised that the boy could hardly contain his curiosity. He was surprised that Potter had actually listened to him for a change and surmised it must have been from him still feeling out of sorts from his earlier fright.

He resumed his earlier seat after handing Potter a vial that had a reddish-orange looking potion in it.

Harry inspected the vial curiously, having never seen a potion that looked like that before.

"It's a nutritional potion[4]," Professor Snape informed him. "You will find this in your goblet at mealtimes in place of pumpkin juice until I am satisfied that you are eating balanced meals."

Harry frowned a little at this, not liking Snape's demanding tone nor the implication that he had lied to Snape earlier. He had, of course, but still!

"I didn't give you that vial to stare at," Professor Snape snapped as the imbecilic boy continued to look at the potion as though he'd never seen anything quite like it.

Harry jumped at Snape's sharp tone and he looked up at Snape with slightly wide eyes.

Professor Snape sighed as he saw this and couldn't help but think that helping Harry was really more of a headache than it was worth.

"Well?" Snape demanded, trying to keep his tone from being too harsh.

Harry felt his cheeks heat up and he hastily uncorked the vial and downed the potion in one big swallow. He had expected the potion to taste foul but found this one tasted a bit like tomato juice.

He looked at the vial in surprise as he set it down on the low coffee table.

"Not all potions are horrible," Professor Snape rolled his eyes as he saw the surprised look on Potter's face.

Harry nodded sheepishly and fidgeted as he thought about asking to leave again. Before he could do so, he remembered the bomb that the Weasley twins had dropped on him before they asked him to an impromptu quidditch practice.

"Uh.." Harry started hesitantly. "Is.. is Lillian really your cousin?"

Professor Snape frowned at the impertinent question, then had to wonder why Potter would even care. Did he like her? Was Potter worried that he, Severus, might chop her up for potions ingredients?

"That," he said with a tone of finality, "is none of your business."

"Sorry," Harry said instantly, averting his gaze to his lap.

Professor Snape sighed again in annoyance.

" _Yes,_ she's my cousin," he reluctantly answered.

Harry perked up at once and looked back up at Snape.

"But Mr. Weasley obliviated her for being a muggle," Harry said in confusion. "How could she be related to you?"

"That, Mister Potter, is the million-galleon question," Professor Snape said. When Harry continued to look confused, he elaborated. "No one seems to know the circumstances on how she found her way to the Weasley's or even to England. I'm waiting for more information from the Ministry, but I doubt we'll know until Lillian recovers her memories."

Harry blinked in shock.

"Recovers? She.. she can get them _back?_ " he asked in disbelief. If she was recovering her memories, that would explain why she had recognized him earlier!

"It is an extremely dangerous and delicate process, but I believe I can help her recover the majority of her memories," Professor Snape said carefully.

" _You're_ helping her get her memories back?" Harry gaped at Snape, still in shock from this news.

"I'm not heartless," Professor Snape snapped, the last of his patience gone. "She is my cousin and a child, of _course_ I would help her! Anyone would!"

"I.." Harry said, feeling oddly guilty about being so surprised at Snape helping anyone. "..I didn't mean.."

"Go," Professor Snape said with another frown at Harry.

"Wh-what?" Harry asked at the abrupt dismissal.

"You clearly have recovered from your earlier fright and now it is time for you to _leave,_ " Professor Snape said in emphasis, his tone sounding incredibly irritated.

Harry stood from the couch and hurried over to what was clearly the entrance to Snape's quarters. If he had bothered to look back, he might have seen the hurt look on Snape's face, that someone thought that he could be so callous to even his family.

As Harry hurried away from Snape's quarters and back to the Entrance Hall, he felt the crinkle of parchment in his pocket and realized with a start that he had never read Mr. Lupin's letter.

* * *

Even though the sun was shining brightly, Jack Frost's eyes began to close yet again as he unintentionally flew lower and lower to the ground. He had dark shadows under his eyes as he had barely gotten any sleep since he had decided to go searching for Lillian.

Although it had only been a few days since his run-in with Jasper, to Jack it felt like it was much longer. He kept alternating flying back and forth across the ocean as he avoided Sandy, and all that constant flying in itself was exhausting. Truthfully, Jack had never gone so long without landing before, but he knew that if he did he'd just fall asleep for several hours and he didn't have the time to rest. He _had_ to find Lillian.

As Jack dipped even lower to the ground, the winter wind that surrounded him picked up and a newspaper flew smack into Jack's face.

Jack let out a high pitched shriek in surprise and fright and flailed for a moment, nearly dropping his staff in the process.

"Wiiind!" Jack whined as he barely managed to keep a hold of his staff and grab the paper off of his face. "I wasn't sleeping!"

The Wind merely ruffled his hair in response and Jack huffed in annoyance at his friend. He glanced at the paper that had hit him and saw that it was an old copy of the _Daily Prophet.  
_

"Ugh, wizards!" Jack muttered in disgust.

He glanced down below to see that there was a town not too far off and surmised that it must have come from there.

The headline _GILDEROY LOCKHART NAMED TEMPORARY GUARDIAN_ on the front page meant nothing to Jack when he looked back at the paper, holding that in one hand while holding his staff in the other, as Wind kept him aloft while he was preoccupied.

However, the moving picture caused him to stare in disbelief. He wasn't staring at what was unmistakably Gilderoy Lockhart, who was beaming jovially at the cameras but at the small girl hiding behind him with her little hands clutching at his robes, her head buried into them as she tried to hide from the flash of the cameras.

Even though he couldn't see her face and the picture was in black and white, Jack would recognize that curly hair from anywhere.

"L-Lillian?!" Jack gasped as he stared at the picture.

The Lockhart in the picture seemed to falter at not being admired by the viewer, while Jack's hushed voice caused the small girl in the picture to raise her head and peer out at him cautiously.

Jack saw what was unmistakably _his_ Lillian.

Lillian was with the wizards?!

Jack hastily began to read the article and felt his heart clench when he got the part where Stephen Jorkins helped to elaborate on Lillian's backstory and explained that she had accidentally had a memory charm placed on her and seemed to have total amnesia now.

"..No.." Jack whispered, rereading that sentence in horror.

No! Lillian couldn't have forgotten all about himself and Pitch!

She couldn't..

Jack ignored the Wind's shrill warning in his ears and didn't seem to notice as he was jerked suddenly out of the way of an incoming bird as the words of the paper became a little blurry. Jack hastily blinked his tears away to bring the paper back in focus and began to read the article almost frantically now.

He saw that Lillian was set to live with Gilderoy Lockhart temporarily while the search for the remaining members of Lillian's family continued. Jack stared in despair at the paper. He knew that wizards could see the Seasonals as well as other spirits and sprites. It was why they all tended to avoid where the wizards were since they tended to cast spells first and ask questions later.

Now, unbelievably, Lillian had been hit by some spell and couldn't remember anything! Worse, it seemed she'd been kidnapped by the wizards who believed she was an actual human child!

Jack's train of thought was cut off as he was suddenly dropped rather harshly into a tree. Jack gasped and nearly dropped his staff again as the Wind whistled in his ears, chiding him for flying around without watching where he was going and saying he was a danger to himself!

Jack realized that Wind had dropped him into a tree so he could think without accidentally flying into anything and murmured his thanks. He had dropped the paper when he landed in the tree, not that he needed it any longer. He had already finished that terrible article.

As Jack straightened up on his tree branch, he desperately cast his mind around for anyone who could help him out. His first thought was of Pitch, but then he remembered the way Pitch had yelled at him and had ignored him when he had tried to bring up the fact that Lillian had been missing all summer.

He perked up again, however, when he thought of Sandy.. but then immediately deflated again when he remembered the last time he had seen Sandy, Sandy had knocked him out for being up too late and he had woken up at his lake before he had a chance to even talk properly with Sandy.

Jack realized he had absolutely no one to turn to for this, no one he could ask for help. He brought his knees up to his chest with his staff cradled in his arms and buried his face in his knees.

It reminded him of all those long lonely years before he even met Lillian and became friendly with Pitch. The only friend he had was Wind, and even then he had still been so terribly lonely.

He had Sandy sometimes, but now Sandy was more intent on him getting a good night's sleep than on having any conversations. He noticed that this had started when he started hanging around Lillian as well.

"What am I going to do, Wind?" Jack asked softly, his voice muffled by his knees. "Lillian's with the wizards and.. and she doesn't even remember me," he ended brokenly with a sob.

The Wind ruffled Jack's hair reassuringly and whispered gently into his ears.

Jack raised his head at Wind's response, his blue eyes dark with emotion and tears.

"Wh-what?" he asked, not sure he heard that right.

The Wind repeated its response and Jack clearly heard this time, shock written all over his face.

 _Go to the wizards.  
_

* * *

[1]: Yes, that is a Pinky and the Brain reference. I was going to have it be funnier by having Lee get the reference, but when I looked it up, Pinky and Brain didn't even make their first appearance until 1993 and right now it's still '92. Ah well. I figured since it's the twins, Lee would find their silliness funny anyway.

[2]: Fun fact: I had rewritten the whole entire scene with the Weasley twins. Originally I wanted them to act more like in the Looney Tunes as they transfigured the flowers into a makeshift fishing pole and literally fished Lillian out of there. Then I changed the pole since I figured the fishing hook would be dangerous, so that they had a pole with a vine tied to it. Then I decided that I had them acting too advanced in their magic and scrapped that idea, until I came up with a vine and a lasso. I figure they would have heard of such a thing from their dad and his muggle obsession.

[3]: It's supposed to be a take on how in the cartoons they have little tweeting birds fly around their heads when they're dizzy and out of sorts. Now George has little flying Lillians instead. :)

[4]: I've seen nutritional/nutrient potions mentioned in other fics before but a quick google search didn't come up with much of anything, so I figure this is another fandom invented thing and not an actual canon thing. I think it's very useful, so I decided I'd stick it in there too. It's not unbelievable to think that there would be something like this available. I've seen it be green in fics but I wanted reddish orange since I'm imagining it will look and taste very much like V8.

Author's Note: I know I said Jack probably wouldn't be around more until later on/Winter or after Halloween but that was only because I couldn't think of a reason for him to turn up earlier. At first I was going to have him come across Lillian completely on accident while spreading snow or frost at Hogwarts and only have him be on the fringes, while frantically trying to think of a way to help Lillian who still doesn't seem to remember a whole lot.

Then I had to remind myself that this is AU. Even though I wanted to write it like I could insert this right into Child of Spring and the story would continue on like normal, this is a _different fic._ I can change things if I want to. The Guardians/Jack/Pitch can be more involved! That said, Jack still won't become a student and you'll just have to wait and see to find out just how involved Jack will be.

Also, I realize that Lockhart's detention with Harry is over and done with and yes, Severus really should have given Lillian back to Lockhart since he doesn't have Lillian's room fixed up yet, but he forgot about that. It will be addressed in the next chapter. We'll also see a snippet of the Guardians.

I've found a handy-dandy calendar of the Chamber of Secrets major events and nothing really happens until late October, which is disappointing. I'm having fun in non-book territory though, so we'll see what happens in upcoming chapters.

If you guys have any ideas on any Weasley pranks you'd like to see Lillian help with (or be blackmailed into) or non-book events you'd like to see, feel free to let me know! I have some ideas on where I want to take the plot, but nothing is set in stone yet.

As always, thanks for all the follows and favorites and sorry for my lengthy author's notes. I tend to get rambly late at night.


	14. Chapter 14: Jack's Mission

Author's Note: I felt bad it took me longer than I thought to write this chapter, so this is much longer than usual! I hope you enjoy it and it's not too long. I'll explain more at the end of the chapter on why this took me longer to get out since I don't want to spoil anything. That said, I hope you enjoy all the twists and turns this chapter takes, especially in regards to Jack. I decided to show what _everyone_ was up to, so hopefully the constantly changing views isn't too irritating.

Reviews:

KijoKuroi: Yeah, it really is annoying how oblivious all the adults are in HP sometimes, just because it would make the plot more interesting. Hopefully my addressing these things doesn't put a damper on the story. If Jack was a Guardian, he probably would feel comfortable talking to North, but you have to remember that at this point Jack doesn't really know North. If you've read Child of Spring, then you would know that Jack and the Guardians send each other gifts back and forth, but that's about it. The only Guardian Jack has any regular contact with is Sandy, and even that's not too reliable. Plus Jack has been on his own for so long that he might not even feel comfortable bringing his problems to anyone. :(

M.v.j.M.: I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Silversun XD: You will find out when you read this chapter!

SimpleWriter44: Clearly I wait until it's the most inconvenient time for you via my psychic powers and then I post to distract you. Muwahaha! ) I'm glad you're enjoying it though.

Crossover Junkie: I'm not offended. I've read a few crossovers that did that and while I did enjoy them, I feel like it's been done a hundred times. Plus I agree that Seasonal magic is different from wizard magic. Jack has his staff, but that doesn't mean he can use it to channel magic spells all of a sudden. And I feel like wizarding wands, although made of special wood, wouldn't work for Jack's special brand of magic. In fact, I'm pretty sure something terrible would happen if he even tried. Besides, this will make what I want to do with Jack even more challenging. :)

 **Chapter Fourteen: Jack's Mission**

Jack wiped his eyes with his hoodie sleeve as he thought about Wind's plan. Wind made it sound so simple, but Jack only knew of a few places to find wizards at. He knew of the magical schools, of course, but other than that..

Not to mention he didn't even know where this Lockhart person was. Or even who he was. The _Daily Prophet_ article mentioned that Gilderoy Lockhart was a famous author but that was about it. It didn't mention where he lived or anything, which meant that Jack had to do some research.

But where could he go to find out about a wizard in particular?

Jack knew that wizards liked to wear normal things like robes and cloaks[1], but he knew that sometimes they tried (very unsuccessfully) to blend in with the more modern non-magical population. He remembered one time he laughed himself silly when he spotted a man wearing a golfing shirt with a kilt while walking down a street.

Grinning a bit at the memory of all the strange looks the wizard had been getting from passersby, Jack remembered where he happened to see a large amount of strangely dressed people. In fact, he'd noticed something strange when he'd flown over the area, but at the time had chalked it up to _'Wizards!'_ and hurried out of there before they noticed him.

Jack carefully stood up on the tree branch and held his staff out.

"Wind!" he called out. "Let's go to London!"

* * *

"So remember - " George Weasley said to Lillian with a grin.

"- A favor now for a favor later," Fred finished for his twin.

Lillian rolled her eyes at this since they'd been saying things like that the entire walk to the castle. They had reached the Entrance Hall and were headed to the entrance to the dungeons when they were surprised to come across Harry.

"Harry!" Fred exclaimed.

"We thought - " George started.

" - You were in the hospital wing," Lee finished with a grin at the irritated look Fred shot him.

Harry turned red at this and muttered something about just needing a potion. The twins exchanged a look at that, but neither commented further on it, much to Harry's relief.

"Well, we just have to return the munchkin here to Professor Snape," Fred said.

"And then we'll join you at the tower," George added on.

"Hey!" Lillian exclaimed with a frown at being called a munchkin.

Fred merely grinned at that and ruffled Lillian's curls, much to her disgust. She grumbled a bit and tried to fix her hair while shooting Fred a dirty look.

"Oh.. ah.." Harry said awkwardly. "Actually, I was going to go to the Owlery."

He didn't want to say so out loud, but he wanted to see if he could get Hedwig to at least acknowledge him again.[2] The last time he had sent a letter to Mr. Lupin, she had given him a look of deep disgust and turned her back to him when he had asked her to send a letter for him. Harry had been rather disappointed to have to use a school owl, and Hedwig had seemed to take it as a personal insult that he'd dare to use any other bird.

"Suit - "

" - yourself!" the twins cheerfully said to Harry as they and Lee took Lillian downstairs.

"Bye!" Lillian called out to Harry as they descended down the stairs.

Harry merely sighed and headed off in the direction of the Owlery.

* * *

Gilderoy sat alone at his desk in his office as he tried to do some work for his classes, but his mind kept wandering back to Lillian distractedly. Professor Snape was only supposed to have Lillian for that one night while he gave Harry his detention and Professor Snape had her for practically the whole next day!

..Not that he was complaining or anything.

Well, alright, perhaps not the _entire_ day. It wasn't even lunchtime yet.

But still! It was rude not to return her immediately in the morning.

He twirled a quill absently as he frowned, thinking about how now his outfit wouldn't be in sync with Lillian's. He quite liked their matching outfits. His frown deepened when he realized that eventually Professor Snape would keep Lillian forever, and then what would he do?

He had agreed to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts this year, but now without Lillian, he couldn't help but wonder if he should continue on with it. It would be torture to have to watch Lillian be taken care of by someone else.

Maybe after this year, he would take up his travels again. Lillian made him feel strange about his previous choices in his book writing, but really, what else was he to do? While he did win Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times, that wasn't exactly great for a job application.

He really did like his writing, but doing any of his earlier ideas about children's stories or a book about Lillian would be too bittersweet. He didn't think he could go through with it anymore.

Gilderoy glanced at his fireplace as though wishing he could will Severus to call him via the floo, but his fireplace remained silent. With another sigh, he returned to his papers and wished for the first time that he had never volunteered to be a temporary guardian.

* * *

While Jack was on his way to London, the Guardians were all gathering for their monthly meeting. They had started getting together more frequently once they started being a little more involved in Jack and Lillian's lives in sending them gifts for the holidays[3], and it made them all a little closer because of it.

Sandy had been one of the first to arrive and was currently perched on North's couch in the globe room, sipping a mug of eggnog. He paused in his drinking, however, when a very melancholy wish came to him. He frowned a little when he heard it, the wisher seemed so sad. He could tell that it wasn't a child's wish, however, and he had no way of knowing precisely whose wish it was.

He shrugged to himself and continued to sip his drink as Bunny stomped into the globe room, grumbling about the cold again.

"Don't know why ya won't let me use my tunnels in here!" Bunny shot North a look as he stomped in. "It's freezin' outside!"

"Ah, Bunny," North said jovially. "I do not like tunnels in my floor! You always leave flower behind, it is not good for wood floor."

Bunny merely rolled his eyes at that and took a seat close to the fire as he got rid of the last of his shivers.

Tooth was the last to arrive as she sat by Sandy on the couch. She smiled at one of her fairies that had tagged along, as the fairy settled down on her shoulder.[4]

"Tooth, glad you could make it!" North said jovially as he waved at an elf who was holding a tray full of goodies. "Cookie? Eggnog?"

Tooth frowned a little in disapproval at that.

"All that sugar is terrible for your teeth!" she exclaimed.

"And yet, no cavities," North said with a friendly smile. Then he clapped his hands together after everyone got settled. "Now is time for business! Tooth? How is teeth?"

North almost instantly regretted asking this, as within less than five minutes later they all had glazed looks on their faces as Tooth happily rambled on about the many teeth her fairies brought her, stopping here and there to give orders to the few fairies that had come along, although the one that was perched comfortably on her shoulder nodded happily at all of Tooth's rambles.

North absently took a cookie from the tray an elf was still holding and took a bite out of it, not noticing the elf had been secretly licking some of the frosting off of some of them, much to Sandy's amusement.

"Alright!" Bunny finally snapped a few minutes later, his patience at listening about teeth finally disappearing.

Before he could say anything else, North cut in as Tooth gave Bunny a scolding look for being so rude.

"Sandy? How are dreams?"

Sandy let loose a flurry of golden symbols, indicating that they were going fine. He suddenly remembered the flying car and told everyone all about it, much to their amusement.

Bunny, however, didn't seem to find it as funny as the others and neither did the fairy, who ruffled her feathers in agitation as she remembered almost being hit by said car.

"Wizards!" Bunny spat. "Think they know everythin'. They're the reason most of their kids don't believe in us."

"Da," North agreed, his smile fading. "I have hard time delivering my gifts because of their magic around some houses."

"You deliver gifts to them?" Tooth blinked in surprise.

"You do not collect their teeth?" North asked her in just as much surprise.

Tooth flushed since she hadn't been out in the field for so long.

"It's like you said, my fairies can't get past the magic on their houses," Tooth said defensively.

Sandy nodded in agreement as golden symbols appeared above his head, saying he had a hard time spreading his dreams because of this.

Bunny sighed, not even bothering to mention the difficulty he had with his eggs since most wizarding children didn't even know to look for them.

His gaze fell on the globe of believers, as he noticed a dim blue light zipping across the globe yet again.[5]

North saw where Bunny was looking and shook his head sadly.

"Blue light has been moving all over for few days," North said sadly, as he too, noticed how dim it was. "Is still big mystery. I have no idea what it is."

Bunny eyed the globe but didn't spot what he was looking for as his frown deepened in worry.

"What about the other one?" Bunny asked, his tone serious.

"Is gone," North said, his tone infinitely sad. "It vanished a few weeks ago.[6]"

Tooth's hands flew up to cover her mouth in horror, her eyes going wide.

"No," she gasped. "Did.. Did they..?"

North sighed deeply, his tone full of regret.

"Is impossible to tell if they stopped believing.. Or worse."

The Guardians all looked somber at that, as they remembered that the two blue lights were often seen side by side. Now one was missing and the other one looked so dim..

Sandy snapped out of his sad reverie as he waved his hand for attention and a barrage of golden symbols appeared above his head.

Bunny was the first to notice since Tooth was still staring at the globe in shock.

"What do ya mean you haven't seen Jack and Lillian in weeks?!" Bunny demanded.

"What?" Tooth asked faintly as she tore her gaze away from the globe to stare at Sandy.

"Maybe they are in other parts of world?" North suggested hesitantly.

Bunny snorted at that.

"When Sandy's been seein' 'em every few weeks for the past few years? 'Sides, it's September! What could they be doin'?"

Sandy shook his head, as Bunny seemed to have forgotten that it was Spring in the Southern Hemisphere at the moment. He was about to remind Bunny, but the other Guardians were all too busy sharing sad looks, as they realized how little they still knew of Jack and Lillian, and now the two blue lights.

Two child spirits and two.. well - they didn't actually know what the blue lights were, but presumably, they were children as well - were missing!

"Should we look for them?" Tooth suggested feebly.

North shook his head as he looked defeated.

"We do not even know where to begin."

Sandy started to raise his hand, but Bunny spoke before he could put in his two cents.

Bunny straightened up as he thought of the other Seasonals.

"I have an idea," he told the others.

Intrigued, Sandy quickly lowered his hand and decided to see what Bunny's idea was first.

* * *

Jack had reached London in record time as Wind knew how desperate he was to find Lillian as quickly as possible.

He slowed down quite a bit as Jack told Wind to take him to a particularly busy area with a lot of shops.

"Where is it," Jack muttered to himself as he scanned the buildings below.

It wasn't long before he spotted it - a network of strange alleyways tucked in between the more modern buildings. Jack could see the buildings in the alleys looked much older and that a lot of the people walking around wore robes or very old fashioned clothes.

"Wind, I have to go down there and not be seen[7]," Jack said hastily, feeling a pang as for once he didn't want anyone to notice him.

Jack flew downward as he noticed he was headed toward a smaller side alley off the main busy one, but he hardly had time to notice this before with a loud SMACK Jack hit some sort of invisible shield and was bounced backward by it.[8]

Jack nearly lost his grip on his staff as he groaned and shook his head, feeling disoriented. He rubbed his nose and glared down at the alley.

"How am I supposed to get in there?!" he grumbled in agitation.

Wind, ever helpful, whipped Jack around and flew him to where the network of alleyways seemed to begin at. Surprised, Jack found himself landing in front of a dingy old building with a sign out front that said _The Leaky Cauldron._

He rolled his eyes when he saw the sign, but then glanced around uneasily to see if anyone had noticed his arrival. His moment of standing in the middle of the sidewalk cost him, as several people walked right through him.

Jack clutched his chest as that horrible _empty_ feeling seemed to stab him in the heart. Feeling shaken, he hurried into the pub without a backward glance.

As Jack entered, Wind was kind enough to not venture inside with him, so he didn't draw a lot of attention to himself. The pub was fairly full with it being a weekend, and it honestly saw all sorts, so that a very pale, teenage boy, even one with white hair and holding a rather old-looking staff didn't draw _that_ much attention. The various wizards, witches, and odd hag were much too busy with either their meals or companions to pay the boy much mind.

Jack paused just long enough to glance around and he spotted a group of wizards arriving via the fireplace. They called out a cheery hello to Tom, the bartender, before they walked off with purpose. Jack had absolutely no idea where they were going, but as he wanted to stop standing around and looking like an out-of-place idiot, he quickly followed after them, keeping his footsteps quiet.

He glanced down at his feet and for the first time in a _very_ long time, noticed his lack of shoes and how it might appear to others. As the Spirit of Winter, he was basically immune to the cold, but he could see how strange it would look. He sighed as he also thought about his hair and staff and decided it was one more thing to add to the rapidly growing list of what would stand out about himself.

He _really_ hoped he could find out about this Lockhart guy and get out of there quickly. The thought of being around what was essentially so many armed magical beings that could apparently erase all his memories with some spell made him nervous. Still, Jack couldn't help but gape when the group of wizards he was following made the archway to Diagon Alley appear in the alleyway behind the pub.

Then Jack closed his mouth and repressed a snort.

Wizards were such show-offs.

Jack quickly threw his hood over his head to try and not look suspicious out in Diagon Alley. He drew a few curious glances, but really, no one could be bothered with the odd shoeless boy as they were all far too busy with their shopping. Jack was glad at their lack of concern but was kind of wondering how callous someone could be to ignore what was obviously not an adult out all by himself without shoes.

Jack just mentally shrugged and chalked it up to it being _Wizards,_ as did most of the other spirits and sprites. Perhaps it was unfair of them to judge an entire population on the actions of the few ignorant ones, but _honestly_ they were _magical beings_ themselves, and through the centuries they had grown apart from and completely stopped believing in the spirits and sprites.

Jack hadn't been around to witness the wizards who had believed in them, but from what he had observed throughout his lonely years as a spirit, he could tell that wizards didn't think much of those outside their own little world and that a _lot_ of them were kinda, well.. gits.

The word that popped into his head made him grin a bit and it also made him want to adopt a ridiculous British accent, but he remembered that people could see and hear him and for once in his life thought better of it. He could save all of that for when he found Lillian.

..If he found her.

No.

He would find her!

Strengthening his resolve, Jack scanned the shops as he wandered down the alley and stopped when he saw Flourish and Blotts. From the name alone he might not have stopped since to him it sounded like a store that sold parchment and writing supplies. But the large display of magical books in the window made him grin in relief and he quickly hurried inside.

Only to have him tossed back outside just as fast.

"Were you raised in a barn?!" the shopkeeper shouted at Jack. "No shoes, no service! Wear proper attire if you want to do business here!"

Jack flinched at the loud bang of the door slamming shut behind him, which cut off the shopkeeper's continued mutterings. He also heard some passersby laugh at his predicament and he almost turned purple in embarrassment as he flushed in shame. He had fallen to the ground when the shopkeeper threw him out, and he quickly gathered up his staff as he went to get up, but was surprised by the hand suddenly appearing in his line of sight.

"Oh you poor dear!" a kind voice said as Jack looked at the hand, and then up to the red-haired matronly witch that was gazing at him in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Jack muttered, still quite red as he accepted the hand and was helped to his feet. It felt so strange to him to have this random witch be able to offer him her hand and for him to grab it as though it was nothing.

He had grown used to the occasional hug from Sandy over the years and of course with Lillian being very affectionate and even a pat now and then from Pitch, but now he had gone months without any of that (as Sandy was very busy, Pitch was very busy and Lillian was missing), and this simple gesture made it very hard for him to control his emotions.

The witch seemed to notice his troubled expression and it only heightened her sense of worry for this strange boy.

"Where are your parents?" she asked Jack gently.

Jack's heart clenched at that since he never had parents. He would never have parents. His only family was in tatters and _his_ Lillian.. had _forgotten_ him. He paused for a moment too long, but he managed to shove the emotions aside as he blinked back tears.

"My.. guardians.. are.. um.." Jack hedged, as he tried to think up a plausible lie.

The witch shook her head at the boy with a small smile.

"Did you sneak out?" she asked him, voice still gentle, but now with a hint of amusement and motherly scolding. She didn't ask about the boy's obvious distress since she didn't want to embarrass the poor thing even more than he already was.

Jack's sheepish look was all the witch needed to see and she sighed.

"I really ought to send you straight back home young man," the woman said a little sternly to him. She wondered suddenly what would happen if someone found one of her children out like this when they weren't supposed to be. She hoped that a kind person would direct them home.

Jack's eyes widened and he rapidly shook his head. He hadn't even been here five minutes and he was already failing at this sneaking around thing!

"No!" Jack said a little too loudly and too quickly. At the woman's shocked look, Jack softened his tone. "Please.. I have something I need to do."

The woman sighed once more and eyed Jack again. She knew that some wizards let children younger than this boy run around in the Alley on their own, and she supposed it wasn't really her place to interfere.

"Alright," she finally relented. "But is there anything you need help with?"

Jack instantly brightened as he remembered the _Daily Prophet_ article. Maybe this lady heard of that Lockhart guy!

"Actually," Jack said as he nervously held onto his staff, fiddling around with it a little. "Have you heard of a guy named Gilder.. uh.. Gild.. something.. Lockhart?"

The witch chuckled at the boy's stumbling over the famous wizard's name.

"Everyone knows who he is!" she exclaimed. "He's done all sorts of wonderful things and has his own set of books out."

Jack flashed her a brilliant smile at that.

"Do you know where he is?!" he asked her eagerly, not even stopping to think it might be a little strange of him to be sort of fangirling over this guy or that his questions might seem a little stalkerish.

The witch laughed again and patted Jack on the shoulder. Her smile slipped a few notches when Jack flinched a little at the touch, but she pretended not to notice.

"You really should read the _Prophet_ more often, dear. He's currently teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts."

"Great!" Jack exclaimed enthusiastically, as he knew exactly where that was and had been there several times in the past. He knew the grounds particularly well and it would be a piece of cake to fly in at night without being noticed. Jack then realized he hadn't introduced himself and how rude that was. The thought of Pitch's disappointment in that caused his smile to fade, but he quickly hitched it back up. "I'm Jack by the way."

"Molly Weasley," the witch said with another smile. "And it's lovely to meet you, but I really must get on with my shopping. If you need any more help, I'll just be over there."

Molly gestured at a shop where quills and parchment could be purchased. At Jack's nod, she quickly departed.

Jack almost laughed to himself how easy that had been, when a huge problem suddenly presented itself and he felt the urge to facepalm.

Lillian was in a castle full of _wizards_ who would all be able to see him, and she had no idea who he was. Even if he did manage to kidnap her, she would be frightened and he had absolutely no idea how to get her memories back. His original plan had been to just barge in, steal her away and figure things out from there. But he clearly couldn't do that now.

He was pretty sure if he tried, the wizards would cast numerous spells at him that would be pretty unpleasant and he didn't really want to find out what they could be.

Speaking of wizards, Jack noticed he was kind of standing out, so he went along with the crowd as he thought of what he could do.

What if..

He shook his head to get rid of _that_ thought. That thought would be crazy! Pitch would've yelled at him just for _thinking_ it, let alone actually doing it.

But..

He _had_ to get Lillian back.

Could he really do it though?

Pretend to be -

His thoughts abruptly came to a halt at the strange voice that called out to him angrily.

"YOU!"

Jack's head snapped up from where he had been staring at the ground as he unintentionally followed a group of wizards. As he finally took in his surroundings, he realized he was in front of a large snowy white building, and a goblin that had clearly been guarding the door was pointing at him while glaring menacingly.

All Jack could do was smile a little nervously in response.

"You, ah.. you're still mad about that?" he asked the irate goblin.

The goblin replied by baring his pointy teeth at Jack, who gulped.

* * *

Molly Weasley's thoughts drifted from the strange pale boy she saw in Diagon Alley to her eldest and youngest sons at Hogwarts as she entered a small shop[9]for buying ink, quill, and parchment. Her boys hadn't been at Hogwarts for very long before she received numerous owls from Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Lockhart and even Professor Snape.

Molly couldn't help but frown at the particularly snarky paragraph she remembered in Professor Snape's letter:

 _While your son is particularly inept at potions even with a properly working wand, he is even more so with his current broken one. He has taken to relying on his table-mates for controlling the temperature of his potions for him since his own wand is clearly not up to the task. I believe the last time he tried to do so, he accidentally transfigured his potion into what appeared to be pudding. I urge you to take the boy to get a new wand, or at least if not a new one, then a family one that is a decent fit._

Percy had also written with news of Ron's wand and that apparently Ron seemed to be getting assigned extra work because of it. Ron had finally admitted as much to Percy when Percy had commented on Ron's being extra studious that year when he had spotted Ron several times in the common room working on various essays. Molly hadn't been particularly happy to hear that Ron being studious wasn't a normal thing - and apparently, the teachers had been assigning her son extra work without contacting her.

It had, after all, been a week into the year and she was just _now_ hearing of this broken wand? It made her cheeks flush in anger and almost made her want to send Ron another howler because of it, but Percy had kindly pointed out that may have been why Ron wasn't eager to share the news of his wand with her.

She paused in her perusal of parchment (Percy had pointed out Ron's inadequate writing supplies and how he would need a lot more parchment if this extra work were to continue) to consider who in the family could give her poor Ronnie a wand. There was Ron's Uncle Bilius that had passed on Arthur's side of the family[10].. She hadn't heard what became of his wand, but perhaps it would be a good fit?

She bit her lip as she studied the prices of various rolls of parchment.

The truth was, they simply couldn't _afford_ a new wand for Ron. Especially not with Arthur in trouble at the Ministry and probably facing a fine. As she selected a few rolls of parchment, Molly Weasley wondered what she was going to do.

* * *

Percy, however, already knew precisely what to do about Ron's wand situation. He hadn't been impressed when he learned his younger brother was using a spellotaped wand that was behaving extremely erratically and had told Ron off for it. To his irritation, Ron had completely dismissed him.

Percy had then asked Ron what their mum would think about all this and Ron had replied that he always knew Percy was a tattle-tale. Percy was indignant! It was _dangerous_ to use a broken wand. Ron would be lucky if it didn't blow up in his or his classmates' faces one day. He also couldn't believe his professors hadn't done anything about it.

Percy had thought about going straight to Professor McGonagall about the matter, but instead, he wrote to their mother about the situation. She really ought to know. He knew that their finances were less than ideal for purchasing a new wand though - he winced as he remembered his mother sweeping the last of their savings into her purse at their family vault - which was why he had written a letter to both Charlie and Bill. If anyone could talk Ron into seeing sense and help out with the purchase of a new wand, it would be them.

So Percy had written them each a letter and was now in the Owlery, watching his own owl, Hermes, leave with a school owl. He was surprised when Harry turned up. He hadn't heard anything of what happened to Harry outside the school earlier, and therefore didn't pepper Harry with inquiries to Harry's health, much to Harry's relief.

"Have a letter to send?" Percy kindly asked him with a smile.

Harry shook his head as he turned a little red in embarrassment. He had thought Percy was going to say something about what happened to him on the Quidditch Pitch earlier, but Percy hadn't been there and obviously hadn't run into any of his siblings yet, thankfully. The last thing he wanted was _Percy_ of all people being a mother hen. It was already weird with the Weasley twins loading up his plate at every meal.

"I wanted to.." Harry trailed off hesitantly. Ron scoffed at Harry's worry over Hedwig's anger. Would Percy think he was being stupid about it as well?

"To?" Percy politely inquired.

Harry gestured at his own Hedwig, who had turned so that her tail was facing them.

"Hedwig's mad at me," Harry admitted as he found his shoes interesting. "I wanted to see if she'd.. um.. accept an apology."

"Why is she mad at you?" Percy asked interestedly. He knew it was unusual to have an owl hold a grudge against their owner.

Harry looked even more awkward at that.

"My Aunt and Uncle.. ah.. they don't like owls much," Harry said more to his shoes. "They wouldn't let me let her out of her cage in the summer."

He decided not to mention the padlock or the bars on his window anyway. The twins had already told Mrs. Weasley and she didn't even do anything. It sort of reminded him of the time he told his primary school teacher proudly about how cool his room was (he didn't know it was unusual to sleep under the stairs at the time) and she had snapped at him about making up stories.

"That's animal abuse!" Percy frowned at that. "She's mad at you about that?"

"Well.." Harry hedged. "Then at the train station, when Ron and I crashed into the barrier - "

"Wait, wait, wait," Percy interrupted. "You CRASHED into the barrier?!"

Harry looked up in surprise at that.

"Yes?" he half-asked, half-stated. "You didn't hear?"

"I only heard about you two flying the car to Hogwarts," Percy shook his head. "Why did you crash? I've never heard of the barrier closing! No wonder Mum and Dad were so worried."

"I don't know," Harry shrugged, "But anyway when we crashed Hedwig's cage sort of fell off the trolley and she rolled around."

Percy winced at that.

"Ouch, poor Hedwig," he commiserated. "So she's mad at you about all that?"

"She's also mad about the car crashing into that tree that hits back," Harry said with a sigh. "The car got mad that it was getting beat up and kicked us all out. Hedwig's cage sort of went flying and she burst out of it and flew off."

"I can see why she's giving you the silent treatment then," Percy said with a nod as he tried not to show that he was reeling about hearing that apparently, their family car was _sentient,_ "that's a lot for one owl to endure. She's probably feeling very poorly treated after all that."

"I tried saying sorry to her," Harry told Percy with a tinge of desperation to his tone. "But she won't even look at me! She can't.. she can't stay mad forever, can she?" his voice kept getting smaller as he went on. "She was.. she was my first friend."

The last part had been uttered so quietly that Percy almost missed it.

 _Almost._

Percy's mind reeled at the implications. Had Harry really never had any friends before? Why would his _mail owl_ even be considered a friend in the first place? At most, they were considered pets! But not an actual _friend._ This was highly unusual.

His astounded look softened as he looked at Harry. The boy looked so miserable at the thought of his owl being so angry at him.

"I think I have just the thing," Percy told Harry, as he decided not to comment on the friend thing.

Harry looked up quickly with a spark of hope in his eyes.

"Y-you do?" he asked. He had half expected Percy to scoff at him about Hedwig like Ron had, but instead, Percy was offering to help! Harry had never thought much of Percy before. Percy was often very pompous and Harry tried to avoid Percy as much as possible normally.

"Here," Percy said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few owl treats. "That should fix her up."

He handed them over to Harry, whose smile lit up his face.

"Thank you!" Harry gushed to Percy.

Percy was a little taken aback at just how grateful Harry was at his help. He had no way of knowing that Harry was used to the fact that hardly anyone older than him cared enough to help him with his problems and therefore didn't expect it. Not to mention that Harry wasn't used to people so offhandedly giving him things.

So Percy was a little perplexed as Harry rushed over to the owls and tried to persuade Hedwig to come down from her perch.

" _Please_ Hedwig?" Harry wheedled. "I have treats for you."

Hedwig's head turned at that and she glanced at Harry with one of her large, amber eyes. Harry held up the treats with wide, pleading emerald eyes in return.

There was a long pause in which Harry held his breath, but then Hedwig turned back around and flew down to Harry, landing on his arm. She helped herself to the treats and had them eaten in a few seconds.

Harry gently stroked her soft, snowy feathers.

"I'm really sorry, Hedwig," he said softly to her. "I didn't mean for all those things to happen to you."

Hedwig turned her head to look at Harry with her large eyes. She fluttered up to his shoulder and gently nipped his ear affectionately.

Harry couldn't help but laugh a little at that as her feathers tickled him.

"H-Hedwig!"

Percy smiled a little sadly at the exchange and then his smile disappeared as he thought of what Harry had said about his relatives mistreating his owl. What would happen when Harry went back there? It really wasn't any of his business, but he couldn't stand the thought of anyone abusing any animal, especially one as beautiful as Hedwig.

So while Harry was busy chatting away to Hedwig, Percy slipped out of the Owlery and thought of what he should do. Obviously, he should inform someone - but who?

* * *

Colin had rushed off on his own after he, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had all entered the castle not long after Professor Snape and Harry, babbling excitedly about getting his film developed in the special potion.

Ron had shaken his head at that but didn't bother asking Colin about who his contacts were for that. He didn't really care anyway.

Now it was a while later and they were all gathered in Gryffindor tower as Hermione was worried that they hadn't been able to find Harry in the hospital wing and that Madam Pomfrey hadn't even heard that Harry should have been in there!

"I tell you, Snape's probably chopping Harry up right now!" Ron said as Hermione shot him a look.

"Of _course_ he's not! He's a _professor,_ " Hermione explained exasperatedly for the millionth time.

"Then where is Harry?" Ginny finally spoke up from her seat. She had taken Harry's usual chair by the fire.

"I don't know," Hermione sighed. "I hope he's alright."

* * *

"Professor!" Fred cheerfully called out once they reached Professor Snape's office. Lillian had helpfully explained to them that was where the entrance to Professor Snape's quarters was.

"We have - " George continued,

" - the squirt!" Lee finished with another grin at Fred, who scowled.

"Quit stealing our bit!" Fred complained to Lee.

Lee smirked at him as Professor Snape emerged from his quarters.

"It took you long enough," Snape grumbled at them.

"She took - " Fred said,

" - a roundabout way," George finished.

Professor Snape pinched the bridge of his nose at the twinspeak and tried to stave off a headache that was forming, not noticing the look of relief Lillian had at not being told on.

"What's the deal with the flowers anyway? Sir?" Lee asked. "Following flowers makes no sense."

Professor Snape sighed but dropped his hand from his nose.

"It seems that Lillian has a rather unique form of accidental magic," he explained to the trio. "Now if you don't mind.."

The twins and Lee bid Professor Snape goodbye, as Lillian crossed her arms and looked up at Professor Snape with a small frown.

"I'm supposed to be back with Gilderoy, you know," she informed him. "You _promised._ "

Professor Snape frowned right back at her.

"First of all, young lady, I said I would look after you as a favor to him so he could supervise his detention. And second - if I were you, I'd change that attitude before you regret it."

Children these days! Had they no respect for their elders?

Professor Snape ignored the niggling feeling that perhaps Lillian _wasn't_ just a child - she thought she was at the moment, so he would treat her as such until it was definitively proved one way or the other.

Lillian's pout became more pronounced at that and her emerald eyes darkened as her anger spiked.

"You said that I would stay the night and now it's not night anymore," she needlessly pointed out, practically glaring at Professor Snape.

Professor Snape hid a wince at her stormy emerald eyes, as he remembered that look all too well on another pair of emerald eyes, eyes that held betrayal and hurt -

Ruthlessly, Professor Snape shoved the memory into the back of his mind.

 _Stop it_ , he told himself harshly, _It's in the past._

"I am aware," Professor Snape ground out, his voice tight with repressed emotion.

Lillian looked surprised at his response, unaware that she'd upset him so. She was starting to regret being so sassy about it and was thinking that she might've hurt his feelings. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend any time with Professor Snape, it was just that she knew it wouldn't be too long before she couldn't stay with Gilderoy anymore and -

"If it's such a burden being in my presence, then go," Professor Snape dismissed her with a look.

Shocked, Lillian wanted to protest that wasn't what she meant at all, but before she could muster up the right words, she heard the slamming of a door and realized she was standing alone in Professor Snape's office. She stared at the door to Professor Snape's quarters for a long moment, but Professor Snape did not reappear.

Feeling dejected and more than a little abandoned, Lillian turned and quietly left the office.

"I only wanted a little more time," Lillian whispered softly to herself as she wiped the back of her hand across her eyes.

Why couldn't she ever seem to do anything right?

* * *

Jack's eyes darted nervously around the inside of the snowy white building as he was ushered inside by the menacing-looking goblin that had spoken to him at the door. The few wizards that were occupied hardly paid the strange boy any notice, thankfully.

Jack's relief at that was very short-lived, however, when he was ushered off the main area of the bank and before he knew it, he was standing in front of a very ornate wooden door.

The goblin behind Jack spoke to another goblin that was standing to the side of the door in a strange language Jack didn't understand, but he certainly understood the answering growl and dark look thrown his way. Jack held his staff close to himself as he wondered if he could use Wind to make a hasty getaway. Before he could decide what to do, the goblin outside the door had knocked on the door and soon Jack was being prodded in the back with something rather sharp to go inside.

There was a goblin inside what could only be an office, seated behind a desk sitting on a leather chair.[8] The goblin fixed its steely gaze upon Jack when he entered and Jack clutched his staff tighter to himself.

"So," the goblin behind the desk said to him in icy tones. "The Snow Thrower has decided to come to Gringotts."

"I wasn't aiming for the goblin!" Jack cried out hastily.

The goblin behind the desk steepled his long fingers and glared at Jack with a gaze that made even him feel cold.

"The goblin in question assured us that you _laughed_ when you hit him with not one, but _several_ snowballs," the goblin informed him firmly.

Jack took a step back from the desk as his mind raced. He had a hazy recollection of aiming a snowball at something and accidentally hitting a goblin instead. He could vaguely recall laughing at the cursing goblin and throwing several more at him and he wasn't quite sure, but the word 'half-pint' might have been thrown around.

Jack wanted to facepalm at that, but that was over a hundred years ago at least! That was way before he had met Lillian and was friendly with Pitch. It was at a time when he would do almost anything for even a little attention.

"Look," Jack said desperately, "I'm sorry you're still mad about something that happened over a hundred years ago. I'm not the same as I was then. I know it wasn't very nice and I really shouldn't have laughed."

The goblin behind the desk muttered darkly at that and Jack could _swear_ he heard the word 'half-pint.' He was in _so_ much trouble!

"You guys know about wizards, right?" Jack rushed on. "I need a way to blend in with them and not look out of place."

The goblin behind the desk paused in his muttering and leveled his gaze over at Jack once more. His eyes took on a more calculating look and his pointed teeth began to show in a malicious grin. This sounded most profitable.

"Assuming we even help you, what could a mere child offer Gringotts?" the goblin sneered.

"I'm a Seasonal," Jack said hurriedly. "I have a lot of powers. I could.. uh.. give you ice that never melts! You could make really great stuff with it. Or.. um.."

"Yes?" the goblin prompted, ignoring Jack's ramblings.

"I'm a child of Mother Nature," Jack said as he tried to draw himself up and look a little more imposing. "I'm the Spirit of Winter. I'll give you a favor redeemable by me at any time you choose. Anything you want, as long as I don't have to hurt anyone. _Anything._ "

Pitch was going to _kill_ him if he ever heard of Jack giving such an open-ended offer to a goblin. But Jack was completely desperate. He wasn't sure how else he could go through with his plan since he didn't want to resort to stealing and he would keep getting thrown out of the shops here for not having proper attire.

"Anything?" the goblin queried.

Jack nodded hastily in return.

The grin spread on the goblin's face, making him look more menacing than ever, but Jack held his ground and tried not to look intimidated.

"And all you require is a way to look more wizardly?" the goblin said in disdain.

"I just need to look more human," Jack clarified. "I also need shoes and some spending money, and a way to hide my staff and make it blend in with wizards."

"In exchange for one favor from you?" the goblin didn't sound impressed at this.

"More than one," Jack said as desperation tinged his voice again.

"I'd say that all that would garner several," the goblin agreed.

Jack nodded in reply.

"You will sign a contract," the goblin told Jack. "Non-breakable and our terms are ironclad. If you go back on your word, we _will_ take our payment in the form of your head being removed from your person."

Jack gulped at that and shakily nodded.

"Sounds.. sounds good," Jack said in a wobbly voice that was a little higher than normal.

The goblin opened a drawer in his desk and withdrew a long roll of parchment. For several moments, all that could be heard was the sound of a quill scratching as the goblin drew up the contract.

Jack was distracted from his nervous fidgeting when the scratching of the quill stopped and the goblin slid the contract across the desk along with an ornate silver dagger.

"Slice your palm and trickle blood on the line at the bottom," the goblin ordered as he gestured to where the blood should fall.

Jack tried to gulp, but his throat had gone incredibly dry. Slicing himself like that made this deal sound that much more sinister. He looked from the dagger to the contract apprehensively, but he couldn't think of how else he was going to go ahead with his plan. Feeling a pit of dread forming, he gently leaned his staff against the desk and picked up the dagger.

He tried not to notice how the dagger trembled as he brought the tip to his palm. He winced as he sliced his palm in the center with the dagger. He set the dagger back down on the desk and held his palm over the line on the contract, as he watched his blood drip steadily down onto the contract, each drop sealing his fate.

His eyes widened as he heard the goblin begin to chant in the strange language, the words sounding harsh and as sharp as the dagger. As the chanting continued, the contract began to glow and the drops of blood on the line changed to form into what was clearly Jack's signature.

Jack was wondering why he couldn't just sign the contract normally when his palm began to burn and he hissed in pain. He clutched at his hand with the other and brought it closer to his chest as though to protect it, as his cut burned. He squeezed his eyes shut as the glowing contract grew brighter and the burning feeling in his palm increased.

The chanting reached a crescendo and then as suddenly as it began, it was over. Jack cautiously opened his eyes and pulled his hand away from where he had been cradling it protectively against his chest.

What he saw when he opened his palm took his breath away and he stared at it in horror.

"The symbol of Gringotts[11]," the goblin answered Jack's unasked question, his voice sounding more sinister than ever. "You belong to Gringotts now."

That jerked Jack out of his horrified stupor and he turned wide eyes on the goblin with the shark-like grin that was still seated behind the desk.

"Wh-what?" Jack's voice came out very faint.

He hurriedly snatched up the contract and saw at the top was the very same symbol that was now burned into the palm of his hand: a set of scales with crossed swords behind it, and a tall axe standing upright in the middle of the swords.

Jack looked at the terms of the contract more closely and noticed that he was to pay the goblins immediately with two large blocks of ice that would never melt and that he owed several favors to the goblins, to be called on whenever and wherever they saw fit. Jack noted with dismay that the number of favors wasn't specified and that there was no time limit set to the contract.

"Our symbol will remain burned into you until your debt is fully repaid," the goblin informed Jack.

"This doesn't even say what my full debt is!" Jack protested. "How much is 'several favors?!'"

The shark-like grin on the goblin's face grew as his eyes glittered maliciously.

"You agreed to those terms, didn't you?" the goblin more stated than asked. "You said you would do anything to get what you wanted and until we deem your debt paid, you will belong to us, Seasonal."

Jack stared from the contract to his palm, never feeling more trapped than he ever had than in this moment.

What had he done?

"Now I need your staff," the goblin stated, his tone becoming more business-like.

"What?!" Jack squeaked as he snatched his staff from where it had been leaning against the desk and held it protectively close.

The goblin tsked impatiently at the boy's antics and leveled a look at him.

"You did state your desire to disguise it from the wizards. As stated, the contract is ironclad, the terms already set. Give me the staff," the goblin said to Jack.

Before Jack could protest any further, the staff was rudely wrenched from his grasp by the other goblin who had yet to leave and handed over to the goblin that was still seated behind the desk.

Jack tensed as he heard the goblin behind the desk begin to chant and cried out when the goblin ran a sharp claw down the center of the staff, carving something small and intricate into the wood.

The small symbol the goblin carved in the staff glowed brightly for a moment and then the glow faded.

Jack rubbed his chest as a part of him now felt.. wrong. It felt like the goblin had carved something directly onto his soul and he didn't like the feeling. He hadn't wanted any of this! He only wanted a way to blend in with the wizards and for his staff to not be so obvious. He didn't ask for his staff to be damaged like that or for himself to be branded like a goblin's slave!

The staff was soon shoved roughly back into his hands and Jack hastily examined the symbol that had been carved onto his staff. Thankfully, it was at least small and not very noticeable. Jack suddenly noticed that he felt slightly drained and he frowned as he stared at his staff. Besides the symbol that was there, it didn't look any different at all.

"When a wizard or witch gazes at that staff, it will appear to be a magic wand," the goblin behind the desk explained. "The symbol carved upon the staff is a word in gobbledygook that means 'conceal.'"

Jack shook his head, as he wanted to protest the means of which that was accomplished, but he knew that the goblin would only sneer at him for his own stupidity. He realized now that he should have read the contract first before agreeing to anything.

"Why does it make me feel weird?" Jack asked as he still felt that slight draining feeling.

"The spell is achieved through goblin magic but is powered through your staff, which is in turn powered through you. As long as it remains, it will draw a small amount of power from you," the goblin smirked at Jack.

"Wait.. as long as it remains?" Jack shot an accusatory look at the goblin. He wasn't getting branded for nothing!

"You didn't state how long you wanted you or your staff to 'blend in,'" the goblin retorted. "I could have made it so that the spell only lasted a few moments if I wanted."

At Jack's suddenly horrified look, the goblin chuckled.

"Consider this fair warning, young Seasonal," the goblin grinned. "We take our contracts _very_ literally. Fortunately for you, I decided the spell will remain until I decide to remove it. The rest of our terms will be completed once you have made your ice."

"Right," Jack mumbled as he concentrated and waved his staff at an empty part of the office. One large block of ice slowly formed, followed by another. Jack swayed a little on his feet as he remembered suddenly how tired he was before all this had happened. Now he made two big blocks of never-melting ice, which even creating a small amount used a significant portion of energy, and now he had this spell placed on his staff would be constantly draining him.

 _Great._

Jack planted his staff on the ground and leaned heavily on it while making the move look nonchalant. If he didn't look so tired, it might even have been believable.

"Now the rest of our terms," the goblin behind the desk snapped his fingers and the goblin that had snatched Jack's staff away immediately retreated from the office.

Several minutes later there was a knock as the goblin returned and entered the office. He was carrying a wooden box with the symbol of Gringotts carved onto the lid and a pair of boots that looked like they had seen better days.

Jack stared at the box in confusion as it was placed on the desk. The goblin behind the desk leaned forward and opened the lid for Jack, revealing a beautiful silvery pendant on a delicate chain.

"Goblin enchanted," the goblin behind the desk proudly declared. "Originally it was going to be sold to the more gullible and incapable wizards, but for you, it will do. As long as you wear it, you'll look more human. If a wizard wore it, they wouldn't see much of a difference. Perhaps a different hair and eye color. I believe it will have an interesting effect on a Seasonal."

Jack saw that the pendant was shaped like a small coat of arms, but was blank. Obviously, that part was to be filled in once the wizard had purchased it. With trembling fingers, Jack reached out and took the pendant from the box. He fumbled with the chain for a few minutes as he struggled to put it on while trying to hold his staff, but eventually, he somehow managed it.

The delicate chain was long enough to be tucked into any shirt Jack wore and not be that visible. Once it was on, Jack didn't feel any different at all. He turned his confused gaze on the goblin behind the desk, who rolled its eyes.

The goblin gestured to a large mirror that was in the corner of the office and Jack stepped in front of it, using his staff to help keep himself upright as he still felt likely to keel over at any moment. He was way beyond exhausted now.

As Jack stepped in front of the mirror he gasped as he saw he no longer looked deathly pale anymore. His cheeks now had a healthy pink glow that hadn't been there before. He was still pale, but now it was more the pallor of someone who didn't go outside much combined with all the recent stress Jack had just been through. Then his gaze wandered up to his still very white hair and he clenched his fists.

"All you did was change my coloring!" Jack tried not to shout as he whirled around to face the goblin behind the desk. "My hair's still white!"

"I believe white is a normal human hair color, isn't it?" the goblin drawled in a bored tone.

"Yeah, for _old_ people, not teens!" Jack retorted. "How is this helping me to blend in! How?!"

The goblin pointed a long finger at the contract and Jack felt his heart sink.

"It clearly states in paragraph three, Article B that you desired nothing more than to 'appear more human.' This can be interpreted in a number of ways, which I have chosen to mean that you wanted to appear more alive and less like a Seasonal. It does not specify what hair or eye color you desired and if you've paid any attention to the wizards at all, a number of them do sport white hair."

Jack ran a hand through his hair in exasperation as he realized just how horrible this deal was. The goblins barely gave him what he wanted, while he had to give them _everything._

"In addition," the goblin continued, "Since you failed to state the length of the concealment, the necklace is considered on loan from Gringotts and is in no way, shape or form considered yours. We retain the right to reclaim our property at any given time."

"I don't have a choice, do I," Jack muttered bitterly. He was really starting to hate goblins.

"Your signature on the contract states that you agree to our terms," the goblin smirked at Jack. He reached into another drawer and withdrew a medium-sized pouch filled with Gringotts coins and set it next to the boots. "Now take the rest of your things and leave this building. Gringotts thanks you for your service."

Jack hastily snatched the incredibly worn-looking boots and stuffed them onto his feet and grabbed the pouch as he placed it in his hoodie pocket. Without another word he left the office and hoped that he never had to visit this horrible place _ever_ again.

It was with an immense amount of relief that Jack was finally able to leave Gringotts and move on to the other parts of his plan.

He knew for Lillian, this would all be worth it, but he still couldn't help but feel he definitely got the short end of the stick.

* * *

While Jack was busy selling off small parts of his soul to the goblins, Harry was having fun chatting away to Hedwig still as the day wore on. He had told Hedwig all about the Quidditch pitch incident and about Professor Snape and of course all the happenings of that week since Hedwig had really missed out on a lot when she hadn't been speaking to him.

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed as he pulled the somewhat crumpled letter from Remus Lupin out his pocket. "And Mr. Lupin wrote to me again."

Harry eagerly began to read the letter while Hedwig looked curiously at it as she continued to sit on Harry's shoulder. A smile grew on Harry's face as read Mr. Lupin's reply, who had been astounded that hardly anyone shared stories of Harry's parents with him. Now that was quickly being rectified as Harry read about some of the pranks that his father pulled with his school friends.

The sound of Harry's laughter rang through the Owelry as the afternoon dwindled away.

* * *

Dinner that night was rather normal, Harry noted, if that included his being peppered by anxious inquiries from his friends (Ron, in particular, had been appalled that Snape had given Harry tea and kept asking Harry if he felt ill) and Professor Snape glaring at his meal as though it had personally affronted him.

Harry saw that Lillian was once again in her special chair that was attached to the table by Professor Lockhart. Harry was a little puzzled as to why Professor Lockhart looked a little depressed and Lillian kept shooting guilty looks over at Professor Snape, but he was soon distracted by Ron as he exasperatedly told him once more that he definitely hadn't been poisoned.

It wouldn't be until the next day that anyone would realize that anything unusual had happened in the night as rumors circulated amongst the students about a boy that had been found outside of Hogwarts' gates.

* * *

[1] Since Jack started off his life as a Seasonal in a cloak, he considers them to be normal wear. Especially since Pitch still wears one and if you've read Child of Spring at all, you'd know Pitch has Lillian wear them as well.

[2] Harry and Hedwig obviously have a special bond in the books and Harry gets upset about Hedwig being mad at him, but then he does absolutely _nothing_ to fix this. Hedwig obviously isn't just any ordinary old owl and Harry cherishes her. I get that J.K. Rowling probably didn't want to include Harry going off and making up with her in the book, but it kind of bothered me, so I decided to change that in my story.

[3] This is a Child of Spring reference. In the beginning parts Jack, Lillian, and the Guardians reach a point where the Guardians send Jack and Lillian gifts for Christmas, etc. I just put this note here in case you found that strange.

[4] That's Baby Tooth, but she hasn't been named yet.

[5] Another Child of Spring reference. There's a big mystery in that fic over what the blue lights are, but this is a minor detail in this story. The two lights are obviously Jack and Lillian. They are both considered children because Lillian started off as a child and will never grow up, while Jack became the Spirit of Winter before he became an adult and is therefore considered a child still. The lights are blue to signify the fact that they are spirits, but the Guardians in this fic don't have any clue what they mean just yet.

[6] Lillian's light vanished off the globe because of all the magical wards around Hogwarts. I'd imagine they'd interfere with even the mechanics of the globe and would cause it to not show her light properly.

[7] If I haven't explained in earlier chapters why wizards can see/touch the spirits, it will be properly explained later on in the fic. For now just chalk it up to magic.

[8] A wizard did it. No really - I figure that the magical people would be paranoid enough to ward Diagon Alley (as well as other places) to high hell so that only those who enter the Alley via specific methods could get in. Those trying to get in another way would be repelled by a force field of sorts. This means that you'd only get access to the Alley if you went through the entrance behind _The Leaky Cauldron,_ flooed or apparated in. It wouldn't stop Death Eaters or other bad wizards getting in, but it would stop anything else.

[9] I googled this and even looked in my copy of _Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone_ to see if this particular shop in Diagon Alley even existed. It does, it just never gets named. There's a store in Hogsmeade that gets named, but the one in Diagon Alley never does. I didn't feel it was important enough to name, so I just left it to be an anonymous little shop.

[10] I googled this too, and it never gets stated on whose side of the family that Bilius is on, so I totally made this up.

[11] I looked up as much as I could about the goblins of HP and not a whole lot is said about them as a whole. There is no mention of heirarchy or even what the leader of Gringotts is called. I looked up symbols for the Gringotts goblins in google images, but it just looked like a bunch of fanmade stuff. So I made up my own. I purposely made the goblin behind the desk as ambiguous as possible, since I didn't want to name him. I read a fic once that referred to the goblins as the Goblin Nation and called the leader the Director of Gringotts. I thought I'd seen that in a few different fics, so that lead me to an extensive google search to see if any of that was true. They called the Director Ragnok, and while Ragnok is apparently a named goblin in HP, he _isn't_ the leader of the goblins. And while Griphook is also a fan favorite to be the Potters' account manager, in the wiki he's just listed as the goblin that runs the carts. While I'm striving to be accurate to canon, I also want to throw in my own touches. So the parts I have with the goblins are all things I made up.

* * *

Author's Note: Whew! I hope you guys don't mind all the little notes I threw up there. I figure if you hate it enough, you can just skip over it. For those that like to read those things, then you can see my thoughts on various little parts in the chapter.

If you're wondering what took me so long to get this chapter out, it was the part with Jack and the goblins that really tripped me up. Jack needed a way to disguise himself for his plan (that we have yet to see) to work, but I wanted to have it be something more unique. Normally in the few Guardians/HP crossovers that I've read Jack and the Guardians will get a potion of some sort that will make them look human. Or else Jack will just be himself and nobody will question it. You'll recall that in the movie that Jack is deathly pale with WHITE HAIR. It really bothers me when nobody questions this! I mean, _really?_ In those stories Jack normally gets this mystery potion from either the Man in the Moon, North, or Dumbledore. While I do agree that Dumbledore does seem to know quite a bit about things other people normally wouldn't, I feel it's a bit too convenient that he happens to have a magical potion that will make Jack and the Guardians (especially Bunny!) look human.

So I decided early on that Jack couldn't use a potion to disguise himself. I also decided that Jack couldn't use any wizard magic to disguise himself either, since he wanted to avoid any unwanted attention and asking some wizard to help would definitely raise some red flags. Jack can't pull off his plan all by himself - he clearly needs outside help to make this all work. Even if he got the proper attire somehow, he'd still look more like a corpse than anything and that in itself would draw suspicion. I wanted to do something that (hopefully) isn't done that often - use the goblins. I've seen in some HP fics where Harry will charm the goblins by treating them with respect and since he is Harry, he always does the impossible and it just works for him.

Jack isn't like that. I wanted him to get help from the goblins, but I also wanted to show the totally ruthless and cunning side that the goblins seem to have in the books. I realize how very stupid it was of Jack to sign a contract he hadn't read, especially on such vague terms and I was really on the fence about having Jack do that. But then you'll remember that Jack's been all alone for _years_ with hardly any normal social interactions. I feel like his negotiating skills would be practically non-existent and he's desperate enough to agree to just about anything. Plus he's a more leap before you look kind of guy.

As for Jack's staff, in other crossover fics I've seen Jack use his wand to cast HP spells, in one fic his staff was shrunk to wand size and it magically works, and he's often given a special wand that will be icy/look like an icicle and he can use it because _magic._ I decided right away that my Jack wouldn't get or be able to do any of that. He needed a way to be able to use his staff while it not looking like his staff, but how? Then I remembered that it's vaguely referenced about goblins being able to take care of themselves against wizards and having their own powers and the Wiki/Google confirmed that goblins have their own brand of magic, so there you go.

And before anyone says anything, _no,_ Jack WILL NOT be using his disguised staff to cast spells!

I hope you guys understand my reasoning about the goblins (sorry for the extra long notes about it) and aren't too upset at what I did to Jack there. If you are, please don't flame me? :(

I also hope you don't mind that I threw the bit with Molly Weasley in there. Even though it's really important in the book that Ron have his broken wand at the end, it always kind of bothered me that the teachers never said anything to _anyone_ about Ron using a very dangerously broken wand. I mean the thing actually blew up in Lockhart's face! Since my Lockhart isn't such an bastard, I decided it would be nice if Ron didn't have such a nightmare year with a broken wand.

I also threw the parts with Percy in, since I feel like Percy is an underappreciated character. I feel like he's only included sometimes just to annoy Harry and his friends, especially in this book. Percy is still Ron's brother and he still cares. So I wanted Percy to be seen doing something nice for a change and for us to see other parts of his character. I feel like he's pretty one-dimensional sometimes in the books and that we don't really get to see enough of him to see how his character really grows in the end. I admit I'm a little hazy on HBP/Deathly Hallows since I haven't read them in forever, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong there.

I'm as eager for the next chapter to come out as you guys, so I'll be working on that throughout the week and hopefully it will be out soon! As always if you have any comments/concerns/suggestions feel free to let me know! Thanks very much to all those who follow/fave this story as well.


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